


Win Them All In The End

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Will & Grace
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Drinking, Friendship, Gen, Sexual Assault, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 20:04:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11698950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: One of Karen's employees assaults her and she isn't sure how to respond. When Will and Grace notice their friend attempting to hide bruises, along with Karen generally behaving stranger than usual, they try to get her to tell them what happened and help her decide what to do about it.





	1. Chapter 1

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 1

xxxxxx

Karen's whole day had been thrown off already and it was only ten o'clock. Her clothing guy was off having some kind of surgery, so one of her other employees was filling in, and she honestly wasn't sure she'd ever even seen the guy before. He didn't know her process and didn't seem to know a damn thing about fashion either. He'd dragged a bunch of potential outfits to her bed instead of just keeping them in the closet and he'd forgotten about shoes entirely. She'd already had to tell him no on three different outfit suggestions, and his jewelry recommendations were atrocious.

"This is more of a summer look." Karen whined as she tossed yet another unwanted dress to the floor. "And... God... Honey, this is a nightgown." She scoffed, tossing the rather revealing garment dramatically behind her as she looked back down at her bed, where her clothing-guy's fill-in had laid out several outfits he'd haphazardly thrown together.

"Blue and black go together, right?" He suggested with a slight English accent, indicating a black blouse laid on top of a patterned blue skirt.

Karen stared down at the combination and shook her head. "Not like that, honey. That skirt doesn't go with anything." She threw the skirt to the floor, and then rubbed her hand across the robe she was wearing. Just picking up that skirt made her hand feel dirty. "Lord, it looks like something Grace would wear." She shuddered and tried to avoid eye-contact with the hideous garment on the top of the reject-clothes pile. This guy must have had to venture all the way to the back of her closet to find that. She didn't even remember buying it. It must have been one of her really, really drunk purchases. She had trouble believing even an utterly plastered version of herself would have allowed such a thing into her closet.

Wardrobe-Guy's stand-in stood awkwardly next to her, looking down at the terrible clothing choices he'd made for her. He was becoming more and more quiet with each passing minute as he realized he didn't know what he was doing and was utterly failing at this job.

"This is from last season." Karen spoke with a sigh as she tossed a shirt behind her and looked down at the skirt that had been underneath it. "I might be able to make this work though... But not with any of these blouses..." She tossed the skirt away and tried to find one that would work with one of the shirts that were already here so she wouldn't have to go search her closet.

The rejected clothing was piling up on the floor like a sad little mountain.

"Why don't you just go make me a drink, English." She ordered. "I'll just do this myself."

"Of course, Miss Walker." The man agreed with a very slight edge to his voice and made his way over to Karen's dresser, where several bottles of alcohol were. "I'm sorry about the clothing. I'm doing my best." He seemed somewhat annoyed with her, but Karen was used to her employees feeling that way.

Karen glanced toward him and then back down at her bed where several skirts and blouses were still laid out. She moved one of the shirts toward a skirt that would look much better with it than what Wardrobe-Guy's replacement had suggested.

She looked back toward English again, whose real name she didn't know. She just called him that because he had an English accent and she didn't want to expend the effort to learn his name. He was a huge, tall man who looked better suited for heavy-lifting than putting together a worthy ensemble. He clearly didn't ordinarily have experience working with clothing. When she'd asked for a replacement for Wardrobe-Guy, she'd hoped someone who had at least a better fashion sense than Grace would be sent up. "Honey, who the hell are you?" She asked with a frown.

He stared back and hesitated. "Um... Well... I'm Richard." He finally answered, sounding uncertain. "Richard Leary? I was hired three weeks ago. We actually never formally met. Someone else hired me."

"Yeah, I got a guy for that." Karen giggled. She rarely ever hired her own employees. It was too much work. Then she frowned again. "I don't mean your name though..." She couldn't give a damn what the names of her employees were. She barely cared what her friends' names were. "I mean what do you ordinarily do. When you're not utterly failing at Wardrobe-Guy's job, who are you?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes as she turned back around and swapped one shirt on her bed for another. She threw the unwanted one to the floor.

"Oh. You mean my ordinary job." Richard realized.

Karen scoffed. "Yeah." How many times did she have to ask? "What do you do, English?" She said slowly and more loudly as she shrugged out of her robe and tossed it onto the floor with the discarded clothing.

"I'm a mechanic." Richard answered. "I've been working on-"

"Ah, of course... The other mechanic died or something." Karen interrupted. "I remember now. Rosario said something about you. I dismissed it as incoherent maid-babble."

Richard finished pouring Karen's drink and made his way over to her. "Here you are, Miss." He offered it to her.

Karen gladly took it and gulped the whole thing down. It was strong - just what she needed. Being up at ten in the morning and being pretty much on her own dressing herself was stressful.

"Anything else I can do to help?" Richard asked as he looked down at her.

Hesitating, Karen stared back at him. He could retrieve her shoes, but he'd probably get the wrong ones, and now that she knew he was a mechanic, she really didn't like the idea of him touching them. "How 'bout you just get me a refill, and keep 'em coming." She suggested, handing her empty glass back to him, turning back toward the bed, and pulling her slip nightgown up over her head. She tossed it to the growing pile of clothing on the floor. Rosario was going to have a lot of laundry to do thanks to this guy's lack of taste.

Having finally decided on an outfit all on her own, Karen picked up the dark skirt she'd chosen and stepped into it, sliding it up her thighs until it was properly positioned, so that the soft fabric hung down to just above her knees.

As she pulled a black camisole over her head, she looked over her shoulder to see that Richard, though over by the alcohol, was doing a lot more staring than pouring. "Zip me up, English." She ordered. "If you're gonna just stand there anyway." She added with a scoff before turning back to the bed and looking down at the grey and pink cardigan she was now second-guessing herself on. Perhaps all-black would be a better way to go...

Karen basically ignored Richard's existence as he made his way over to her and zipped up the zipper on the back of her skirt. She even ignored the fact that he placed his hand on her hip and let it stay there a little longer than he probably needed to in order to get the job done. She couldn't help but to notice him when he lingered a bit too long behind her, let his hand run several inches down her thigh, and even seemed to lean himself up against her.

Freezing, Karen looked straight ahead and tried to figure out if she was being paranoid. He did have to get close in order to follow her orders. Zipping up a skirt without touching the skirt at all would be pretty difficult to do. Perhaps he had to get a little handsy. Her regular Wardrobe-Guy put his hands all over her all the time, but it never felt this creepy... Maybe that was just because she wasn't used to this guy, and he wasn't used to her. Maybe he hadn't meant to brush up against her... And maybe he just wasn't very graceful around clothing... But he was still standing there... for no reason... and now seemed to be smelling her hair.

"Woah, there, English." Karen spun around and stared up at the mechanic. "I said zip, not smell. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry." He raised his hands in defense, but didn't move away from her. They were still only inches apart. "I was checking if you're wearing any perfume - I was going to make a suggestion."

Karen narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "What, do you think I wear it on the top of my head?" She frowned. The guy's story seemed suspicious, but she was wearing perfume, and it was expensive, and she did feel like showing it off. So she leaned her head back a bit and put her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him down toward her so that he could smell the skin near her collar bone, which was where she'd applied the fragrance. "It's here." She told him as she drew him closer.

Richard put one hand on her shoulder as he leaned in very close to her neck and inhaled the scent. "That's nice, Miss Walker."

Karen smirked. "I know. It's good, right?" She owned only the best of everything, and that included fragrances.

"Very good. You're a very elegant woman, Miss Walker." Richard noted in a low voice. He kept his hand on her shoulder and moved the other to her lower back, pulling her a bit closer to his chest and inhaling the scent on her neck again. "So sexy." He added in what was almost a whisper.

"Uh... Yeah..." Karen frowned this time as she started to try to lean away from him. His hands held her firmly in place. She wondered if he even noticed she was trying to shrug out of his grip. He was pretty strong, and she wasn't. Maybe he couldn't even tell that she wanted him to let go... She didn't want to be entirely forceful and make a big deal out of nothing, but she also kinda wanted him to back off.

When his grip didn't loosen, Karen relaxed for a moment, hoping he would let go on his own. Surely he wasn't meaning to be this creepy. He just didn't know his own strength, perhaps, and Karen did willingly invite him to smell her perfume - he was only doing what she'd invited him to do...

The two of them remained close for a somewhat awkward moment, until Karen started to feel more uncomfortable than she was willing to put up with. Richard only seemed to lean in closer against her skin and to pull her tighter against his chest and was still smelling her. She could even feel the stubble of his facial hair prickling her collar bone and his breath on the delicate skin of her throat.

With a nervous laugh, Karen shoved him somewhat gently, but harder than she had before. For a moment, he still didn't budge. Karen frowned and pushed him harder. "That's enough, English." She finally demanded, starting to feel nervous when he still held onto her a bit too hard and showed no signs of letting go. "Get off of me!" She ordered in a more forceful voice as she shoved him literally as hard as she could.

Richard finally let her push him away. He smiled down at her as she frowned up at him.

"Want another drink?" Richard asked. "I mean, if you've got time... When are you supposed to be going in to work?"

"Do I want another drink?" Karen laughed nervously. This guy was confusing her with all the back and forth - being a screw up, then doing exactly what she wanted, then being a creep, then being good again, then a creep again, and then offering her the thing she loved most - alcohol. "Do you even have to ask? Of course I do..." She smiled. She simply couldn't resist a drink. Forgiving people's faults was much easier when they offered her a beverage. "And as for work... Honey, I don't know that I've ever gotten there on time. Don't even know when 'on time' is... I've got plenty of time for drinks. If there's one thing you need to learn while working here, it's that Karen Walker has always got time for a drink." She informed him.

Richard smiled and gently but somewhat forcefully pushed her onto the bed so that she was sitting down on the edge of the mattress.

Karen frowned, but didn't stand back up. She wasn't sure what this guy's game was. It was almost as though he was flirting with her... But every employee here knew she was married to Stan. Surely this guy wouldn't be so brazen as to actually try something. Karen didn't mind a bit of flirting sometimes, as long as a bit of flirting was all it amounted to. She wasn't fond of how controlling this guy seemed to be.

If she thought Richard was going to be a long-term problem, she would have probably told him to get the hell out right then and there, but she supposed a little bit of creepy combined with compliments and someone who would pour her drinks all morning wasn't so bad. She'd probably never see him again once Wardrobe-Guy recovered from his surgery, so maybe it didn't matter that this guy was a little weird.

Richard paced across the room, poured two drinks this time, and made his way back over toward the bed. He sat down next to Karen and handed her one of the drinks - which he'd filled pretty full - as he took a drink from the other.

Karen narrowed her eyes and stared at him as she sipped her beverage. She didn't often drink with her employees, but most of them never seemed interested in drinking anyway. She wasn't sure if she minded him inviting himself to drink or not. In a way, she enjoyed that this guy was kind of challenging her superior position in this relationship. She appreciated people who had the capacity to be bold, but only up until their boldness conflicted with her interests. This man was kind of right on the border of becoming obnoxious. She couldn't quite tell if what he was doing was fun and playful or if it was annoying and insulting to her authority.

"Decide which sweater to wear yet?" Richard wondered. "Something low-cut would look nice." He commented as he put his arm around her shoulders and looked down at her chest.

Karen shrugged away, shook her head, sighed loudly, and took a long drink. "You're not straight, are you?" She frowned up at him and pouted. She preferred her clothing-guys to be gay men or women. She did, after all, get undressed in front of them, and though in certain instances she enjoyed attention of straight men, she wasn't sure she really liked this one. He was a bit too forward, and she didn't like that he seemed to be competing with her for control.

Richard frowned. "Is that a problem? No one ever asked me that when I applied..."

Karen shook her head. "No... Not for a mechanic... You probably shouldn't be in charge of clothing after today though. You're not very good at it, and no offense, honey, but you're kind of a creep." She laughed as she finished her drink and looked back at Richard. He wasn't smiling.

"Why don't you take that down to the kitchen and get back to working on the helicopter or whatever it was you said you were doing." Karen suggested as she handed him her empty glass and stood up. His assertiveness wasn't cute, flattering, or charming. It was creepy and only creepy. She was officially over it.

She heard Richard place both her glass and his rather forcefully down on her nightstand and then felt his hand wrap around her arm. He pulled her back roughly so that she stumbled backward and landed in his lap.

By this point, she was done with the back and forth, and was no longer willing to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. This didn't feel fun and playful anymore. As much as she loved fuzzy lines between professional relationships and unprofessional ones, she didn't like how he was acting, and was not at all interested in being anywhere near him. Karen was generally pretty easy going and didn't mind a bit of inappropriateness, but not when it seemed so forceful and uninvited.

"Get your hands off me!" She demanded as she struggled to stand back up. Richard had his arm wrapped around her waist and gripped her wrist rather hard with his other hand. He wouldn't let her up. "I'm warning you, English. Get your filthy, perverted, giant yeti hands off me right now or you'll never work in this town again."

Richard laughed and did not loosen his grip at all. In fact, his fingers around her wrist even tightened. She felt like they might leave bruises. "Come on, Karen." He whined as he pulled her closer. "Are you serious right now? You had to ask me if I was straight after all that? I can tell what you want. You were so leading me on just then."

"I was not!" Karen defended as she tried to stand again, but couldn't. "Get your grubby paws off me!" She demanded as she shoved her hands uselessly against his chest.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows as he pulled her closer. "Getting undressed in front of me? Asking me to zip up your skirt and smell your perfume? I can take a hint, Miss Walker." He smirked and leaned in as if he was going to kiss her.

With a wince, Karen dodged his kiss. Feeling quite panicked by now and having no other choice, she struck out at him with her free hand, slapping him across the face as hard as she could. The force actually hurt her hand, and hopefully his face. It seemed to slow him down, but also clearly made him angry, and didn't do a thing to loosen his grip around her wrist.

"You bitch!" He growled, hitting her back, across her cheek, much harder than she'd hit him.

Karen gasped in pain and shock and brought her free hand up to her face as squeezed her eyes shut. She felt pained tears stinging at her eyes as the memory of Richard's hand stung her cheek. She probably would have fallen back from the force of his hand if he weren't still holding onto her arm in a very tight, painful grip.

"Ask a mechanic to dress you up like a doll, and this is what you get." He laughed, effortlessly picking her up and slamming her down against the mattress before climbing on top of her. "I'm not your wardrobe guy. If this is how you act with your other one, you better be glad he's gay. No straight man would put up with how you just behaved. Straight men don't like playing fucking games and being led on without ever getting anywhere."

Karen felt tears stinging her eyes as she frowned up at Richard, who was now straddling her and gripping one of her wrists with each of his hands, holding her arms down very securely against the bed. For the moment, she was at a loss for words, unsure if she should be angry or terrified. She was completely unused to being treated so roughly. Sure, Stan got a little heavy sometimes, and had on occasion hurt her a bit without meaning to, since he was so huge. It was easy for Stan to lean the wrong way and nearly kill someone, but he'd never hurt his wife on purpose. This guy was being very purposefully violent, and Karen hadn't even wanted to get physical with him in the first place.

Richard moved her arms up over her head so he could hold them both in place with one of his own monstrous hands. With his other hand, he gripped her face and smirked down at her. With his fingers over her jaw and neck, he rubbed his thumb over her lips. "You're so sexy, Karen." He said in a low voice as he shook his head slightly and stared into her eyes. "I had seen photos of you, and had seen you from a distance, but you're even more enchanting up close. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you."

Karen whimpered and turned her face away. Richard moved his hand down to her neck, wrapping his fingers threateningly over her throat, but fortunately not applying any pressure. Karen breathed in a frightened breath and looked back up into his eyes. "You need to get off of me right now." She threatened, trying to sound assertive even though she was entirely terrified. "I put up with a lot from you people, but I'm not going to put up with this." She told him.

Richard offered a sarcastic chuckle as he stared down at her with a mixture of fondness and aggression in his eyes. Still gripping her wrists in one hard, bruising hand, he ran his other down over her breast, across her stomach, and up under the tin material of her shirt. She felt his fingers fighting to make their way up under her bra.

"Stop!" Karen begged as she pulled uselessly at her wrists and tried to squirm under the man's heavy weight. He was nowhere near as big as Stan, but he was still a lot bigger than she was, and she couldn't throw him off no matter how hard she tried. "You work for me you son of a bitch!" She reminded him as she grew more and more desperate and scared. The only way to end this was to get him to listen to her, and it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

"Shhh." Richard cooed as he leaned down closer and as his rough hand pawed painfully at the skin under her shirt. "Just relax, Karen. You were practically begging for this."

She whimpered in pain and fear and squeezed her eyes shut and felt tears now freely falling over her cheeks. Even ignoring the fact that he was touching her when she asked him not to, his touch was painful. He pressed and squeezed at her skin with such roughness as he crushed her wrists in his other hand. "Please stop! You're hurting me!" Karen pleaded in a voice that sounded pathetic even to her. "Please..." She whimpered. She felt so degraded and insulted to have to beg someone like this, but she didn't know what else to do.

"Don't cry. You're okay." He spoke in a deceptively gentle voice. "I'm not going to hurt you, Miss Walker." Richard promised. "Just calm down. Don't fight me. You know you want this too. I could tell."

"I don't! Get off of me!" Karen sniffed back tears as she felt his rough hand still pawing around under her shirt. "I don't want to do this!" She insisted when he continued to ignore her demands. "Stop!" Karen nearly screamed as her attacker's calloused hand continued to move over her sensitive skin. She tugged at her wrists again, which only caused him to grip her harder. Karen winced and felt herself shaking slightly under his hard hands. She honestly didn't know what to do next. Usually she made a demand, and she was immediately listened to. Ordinarily, if she rejected someone, they walked away with their head down, but this guy didn't seem to be like other men she'd had to disappoint in the past. He wasn't taking no for an answer. She didn't know how to deal with him.

"I may not be able to match your clothes together, but I'm good at this. Trust me." He laughed as he groped under her shirt for a moment longer before moving his hand around to her back and going for the zipper he'd secured on her skirt only several minutes earlier.

"No!" Karen pleaded as she tried to kick out her legs. Richard was practically sitting on her thighs. She could hardly move. "Please don't..." She whimpered. She felt more tears threatening to spill over as her panic grew. She couldn't believe this was happening. "Stop! Get your hands off of me! Let me go!" Karen's voice was rising as her panic increased. She hated feeling so desperate and powerless. It was a very foreign feeling. Most people took her seriously, or at least respected her position in society enough not to mess with her.

"Shhh... Keep your voice down." Richard threatened as he squeezed her wrists very painfully and clamped his other hand down over her mouth. He stared down into her tear-filled eyes. "I don't want to have to hurt you, Karen." He growled. "But I will if you make me. Stop crying. If anyone hears you, you're going to regret it."

Karen swallowed a lump in her throat and considered this. If she screamed, this man claimed he was going to hurt her, which was entirely frightening. He was tall and muscular, had already demonstrated his strength, and could certainly deliver on that threat easily if he wanted to. Yet he was already hurting her, and she hadn't really made that much noise. If she didn't alert someone to what was happening, he was going to hurt her anyway.

Keeping his hand over her face, Richard let go of Karen's wrists for a moment and used that hand to reach toward the waist of her skirt. Karen whimpered a muffled cry and tried to squirm underneath him.

Now that her hands were free, she could better fight him, even if she couldn't beg or scream anymore. With both of her hands, she reached toward the hand that was trying to undress her, prying at his fingers until he abandoned his attempt to manually silence her and went back to gripping her wrists with that hand instead.

"If you don't get off of me, right now, I'm going to scream. You and I both know at least ten people will hear me." Karen threatened with a trembling voice as soon as his hand moved off of her lips. She had a lot of servants, and a handful were bound to be within earshot. If this ordeal got any louder, someone would come to check on her. She tried to sound strong and assertive in her threats, but couldn't help her shaking breaths. She was so scared.

As soon as the words exited her mouth, Richard paused, staring down at her as though she'd just punched him. He looked pretty angry, but Karen honestly could not guess what he was thinking right now.

Threatening to scream could get Richard to finally listen to her - or, it could remind him that she had the power to get him into a lot of trouble for what he was doing. If she seemed too powerful, it might make him feel trapped, in which case he might do something crazy, perhaps even as crazy as killing her to keep her from talking.

As he glared down at her, with anger-filled eyes, Karen started to wonder if she should have taken another approach. He had stopped what he was doing, but still hadn't let her go, and he looked so angry. She didn't know what he was thinking. "Just... Let me go, and we'll forget any of this ever happened." She suggested with a frightened, pained wince as his grip around her wrists did not loosen even a bit. "I won't say anything to anyone. You can keep your mechanic job... No one ever has to know..."

Karen nearly gasped as she heard a knock on the bedroom's door. "Miss Karen." It was Rosario's voice. She didn't sound frantic or worried. She didn't know anything was going on.

Richard slammed his hand back over her face immediately, pressing down pretty hard as he scowled down at her.

Karen stared back, up into Richard's eyes, silently begging him not to do anything crazy. She wondered if she should try to call out to Rosie right now. It would be a soft, muffled cry, but probably enough to be heard, and enough to alert her maid that something was wrong. But doing so could make things worse. She could end up getting Rosario hurt as well. Richard was very strong. He could probably fight off both Karen and Rosario at the same time without risking much injury to himself.

"Don't say a damn thing about this to anyone." Richard whispered in a voice so low she could barely hear him. "Not a word. Understand?"

Karen nodded. She could feel herself shaking.

"Miss Karen." Rosario called out again. "The car's ready."

"Get rid of her." Richard demanded in a very low voice as he slowly lifted his hand off of Karen's mouth.

"J-just a minute, Rosie." Karen called out, trying to sound as calm as possible even with Richard still hovering threateningly over her, still gripping her wrists in crushing, painful hands.

"You alright, Miss Karen?" Rosario asked. She must have noticed the edge to Karen's voice. "Can I come in?" She heard the door knob rattling and frowned when she realized Richard must have locked it. He seemed to have planned this to some extent.

Karen shook her head. "No... Don't come in... I'm almost ready. I'm fine. Just... I'm just kinda hung over. Not feeling so great, you know... I'll be downstairs in a minute."

"Alright." She heard Rosario sigh and then heard her light footfalls as she left the door and made her way down the hall.

She stared into Richard's eyes as he stared back down into hers. He still hadn't let her go. What if he wasn't going to? Maybe she should have alerted Rosario that something was going on after all...

"Not a word, Karen." He said again.

Karen quickly nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat and pulling gently at her still-trapped arms. Richard squeezed her wrists tighter for a few seconds before finally letting go, but still leaned menacingly over her.

"I mean it." Richard threatened. "I've been pretty nice to you, but I don't have to keep being gentle. I am gonna see you again, and I'm not afraid to take this further than you'd like."

Karen frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean? He finally climbed off of her, stood at the edge of the bed, and offered his hand down to her.

Reluctantly, Karen took it and let him pull her up to her feet. She stood on shaky legs as she watched him cautiously. He clapped his hands on her shoulders before moving one hand up to her chin, tilting her face upward and leaning in for a quick kiss. Ordinarily, Karen would have punched him for that, but she was still quite frightened of how he might retaliate. She didn't feel so powerful right now.

"Sorry I hit you." He commented as he finally let go of her and made his way over to the door. "But you did hit me first."

Karen stared at him silently. It wasn't until he finally opened the door and exited that Karen exhaled a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in.

With shaking hands, she reached back and re-zipped her skirt. She also noticed her cami was pushed up all the way up to the bottom of her breasts and her bra was pushed up over them. She tugged the garments back down and grabbed the closest cardigan off her bed, pulling it on and then wrapping her arms around herself. She really didn't want to go to work now, but she certainly didn't want to stay home either...

xxxxxx


	2. Chapter 2

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 2

xxxxxx

Karen felt like she was in a fog for the entire trip to Grace's office. Of course, she often felt a bit foggy due to being intoxicated by one thing or another, but this time was different. She had barely consumed any illicit substances and was actually a lot closer to sober than she preferred. At this point, not drinking made her feel more disoriented and uncomfortable than any amount of alcohol or drugs could. Without the aid of any intoxicating substances this morning, she wasn't out of her mind. This time, she was in it.

Rather than spacing out and forgetting where or who she was, she was thinking about what had just happened, running through it over and over in her mind, wondering what her next step should be, or if she should even take a next step at all... Even when she entered the building where she worked and robotically made her way to the elevator, she was oblivious to everything and everyone around her. She was only focused on her own thoughts.

The way Richard had threatened her was confusing. He said he was going to see her again, and he'd claimed that he was willing to take this whole thing even further if she didn't keep quiet. She couldn't quite be sure what exactly he was implying. When he threatened to take this further than she'd like, what had he meant? That if she told anyone what he had done, he'd do something even worse to her than what he'd already done? But if she didn't do anything, how was she ever going to feel safe in her own home anyway? Would he just leave her alone if she didn't tell anyone what happened? Was that what he meant - stay quiet and everything will go back to normal, or talk and make things worse? Or was he going to try to continue this either way, and would just be more violent if she reported him to the police? Was he going to keep working as her Wardrobe-Guy until the real one came back? She didn't even know when that would be... and if she asked someone else to do the job, maybe Richard would get angry and do something... or people would get suspicious... or something. What was she supposed to do?

Even though what she really wanted was to make him face consequences for what he did to her, she wondered if she'd be better off just letting the whole thing go. The only problem with that was that she wasn't sure if her shutting up about it would actually keep him away from her. He never specifically said that her cooperation would be the end of this - just that her failure to cooperate would make things worse.

If he wanted to make another attempt at what she'd narrowly escaped this morning, he certainly could if Karen didn't do anything to keep him away. If anything, he probably learned from his mistakes today, and would be better prepared next time. She was lucky Rosario had interrupted him and scared him off. What if he found a way to get her alone and where no one could hear her? How far was he willing to take his strange infatuation? She couldn't even go home at this point.

"Karen." In her haze, she vaguely heard someone saying her name along with other muffled words. She had more important things to think about than that, however. How was she supposed to even go about her daily life? Her employees were supposed to make her life easier, not terrify her half to death. The way Richard had grabbed and groped her stuck firmly in her mind. She didn't want that to ever happen again. But taking steps to get him out of her life could easily backfire and make him angry, and thus more likely to hurt her. He'd specifically warned her not to say anything about this to anyone. She feared what he'd do if she said something, but feared what he'd do if she didn't. She had two options, and they both seemed to very likely to end badly for her.

She continued staring ahead, thinking about what she was going to do, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

With a loud, shrill scream, Karen smacked the hand away and stumbled backward. Being so deep in her own mind, the feeling of someone's hand on her all of a sudden came as an abrupt shock, especially considering she was thinking about how frightening it was the last time someone had unexpectedly grabbed her.

"Geeze!" Grace gasped as she drew her hand back and stared at her friend with wide eyes.

"Oh." Karen breathed a shaking breath and closed her eyes for a moment upon realizing it was Grace who'd just touched her arm. "It's just you... I forgot where I was..." She exhaled in relief and put her hand over her heart, trying to slow it down manually as she looked around the office. Somehow she'd made it all the way up here without even realizing it.

Grace stared at her like she was crazy and nodded slowly. "You're at work, Karen." She said in a slow, careful voice. "You literally just walked in..."

Karen forced a nervous laugh. So this is what it felt like to have a serious problem and also have the misfortune of dealing with it while more or less sober. It was positively nerve-wracking. Karen continued looking back at Grace as she contemplated her next move. She supposed she could go sit down at her desk, but Grace as still staring at her like she was waiting for some kind of explanation. Karen stared right back. There hadn't seemed to be a question in whatever Grace had most recently said to her, so she didn't have an answer.

Grace frowned after several long seconds of the two women staring silently at each other. "You okay, Karen?" She wondered.

"Yep." Karen smiled and nodded. "Doing good, Grace."

"Okay..." Grace nodded slowly, but still stared at Karen as though she were an alien. She looked her coworker up and down with narrowed eyes and seemed to be thinking pretty hard about something. Then a small smirk spread across her face. "Hey, Karen?"

"Yeah?" Karen answered.

"I hate to be that girl." Grace tried to hide her smirk, but couldn't help herself and started to laugh. "But-" She interrupted herself with another chuckle. "What's this?" She gestured toward Karen's cardigan, which did not match the rest of her outfit at all. "What's happening, Karen? What's going on here?" She clapped her own thigh and let out a loud snort as she laughed at her own joke.

"Oh..." Karen looked down at her outfit and nodded. Grace wouldn't have made that joke if she'd known why Karen had failed to be as put together as usual, but Karen actually welcomed it. She was proud when Grace managed to be as judgmental and hurtful as Karen herself could be. Karen smiled and let out a small laugh of her own before starting to shrug out of the sweater. Grace was right about the cardigan. It didn't match, and she couldn't keep wearing it.

"Get dressed in the dark, Karen?" Grace laughed.

Karen sighed, but was willing let Grace have her fun... Until she'd shrugged out of the cardigan almost completely and noticed light bruises starting to make themselves visible around each of her wrists. She stared down at her wrist for a few seconds, pouted, and pulled the garment back on, feeling tears threatening to fill her eyes.

Rather than getting emotional, she decided to turn the conversation around. If there was one thing that might have the power to make her feel better about her own problems, it was putting other people down. "You should talk, honey." Karen put her hand on her hip and stared at Grace with a scrutinizing eye. "I remember that blouse. I think my kindergarten teacher had the same one."

Grace's smile immediately fell. "Well... you... That color-" She stuttered.

"I may not match, honey, but at least my clothes didn't come from K-Mart." Karen made her way over to her desk and sat down, pulling a compact out of her purse, looking at her reflection in its mirror, and frowning when she noticed a very light hint of a bruise forming on her cheek as well. She hadn't put on makeup this morning. She tried to be subtle as she worked on covering the bruise before it became dark enough to be immediately noticeable.

Grace sighed and picked up her purse, a hideous fake-leather looking thing. "I think I need some caffeine. I've felt like crap ever since breakfast." She grumbled.

"Honey, that's what you get when you buy bagels off strange men on the street." Karen commented without taking her eyes off her own reflection. Grace had recently adopted the disgusting habit of purchasing bagels off of a guy who pushed a cart of them around up and down the sidewalks near the office. Karen had warned her time and time again that she was going to end up getting herself killed eating garbage like that. It was only a matter of time before she ate one that was well past-expired or otherwise tainted by the weird creep who sold them. "Who knows where those bagels have been, Grace." Karen added with a frown as she continued working to cover the hint of a bruise on her cheek with a careful, gentle hand.

"God... You make it sound so dirty, Karen. It's not like it was just some random guy handing them out in an alley. He sells bagels. Everyone buys them there." Grace defended her breakfast choice.

"Oh, everyone buys them from the weird-smelling guy with missing teeth, huh? Everyone takes the subway and pays taxes too. Doesn't make it any less gross, honey." Karen rolled her eyes. Who the hell in their right mind would expect a bagel cart on the sidewalk to be sanitary? "Just the fact that someone made it their profession to cart around bread is disturbing. I don't trust it."

Grace shook her head, but dismissed the conversation. "I'm going to lunch. Watch the phones for an hour?"

Karen shrugged, but then glanced toward her friend with a frown. "It's a little early for lunch, Grace."

"It's 11:45." Grace told her.

Karen glanced up at the clock. "Oh... So it is..." She noticed.

It had taken her a lot longer than she'd realized to get out of the house this morning. Maybe she'd stayed in her room longer than she thought. Rosario had come back up and asked her if she was going to go to work or not. She also now realized that her maid had come back and knocked on the door again not once, but several times. She must have just been sitting there and thinking for over an hour...

Was she really that far into her own head? She'd worn this mismatched outfit because she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and had grabbed the first thing she could reach. Did she really just sit in her room thinking to herself for that long? She looked ridiculous right now, and it was all to save time that she'd wasted anyway. She didn't even remember sitting there or what she had been thinking about. Even so, this morning felt like it had been days and days ago. Her mind had been racing this whole time, so much faster than usual. It was exhausting.

"-Karen." Grace was still talking. "Hellloooo... Karen?"

Karen blinked a few times and looked up at her friend. "Yeah?"

"Will you answer the phone if it rings? For once?" Grace seemed to be in a bad mood now. Karen not letting her relish in her joke must have hurt her feelings. Or maybe Karen critiquing her choice of bagel vendors had annoyed her.

"Sure, honey." Karen forced a smile. "Don't I always?"

Grace put her fingertips against her temple. "No, Karen. You usually don't..." She complained. Grace looked like she was going to persist in trying to get Karen to actually work, but then quickly gave up, as always. "Whatever." She shook her head and shrugged. "See you at one."

Karen waved and watched as Grace left. As soon as she was alone, she exhaled and dug around in her bag. She pulled out a large pair of sunglasses, to be used as an extra precaution to hide the darkening bruise on her cheek. She placed the glasses on her desk and looked back in her compact mirror. Poking lightly at her cheek, she frowned. At least he hadn't hit her eye. The bruise on her cheekbone was going to be noticeable, but it was at least possible to mostly cover it up with makeup.

She closed the compact and put the sunglasses on. She really needed a drink... or several... Ordinarily, she at least tried to pace herself while she was working, but she didn't really see the point in doing that now. She found one of the bottles she had stashed around the office and took a long drink. She was going to go for the strong stuff, not messing around.

As she drank a rather large amount of the alcohol from the bottle, she leaned back in her chair and stared at the wall. What the hell was she going to do? Maybe if she pretended nothing had happened, it would just kinda go away. Maybe English would be worried about her saying or doing something and would just kinda drop it. Maybe they could both just move on...

It made Karen really angry that he thought he had the right to treat her like that though. She really didn't want him to go unpunished. But she also didn't know exactly what his threats had meant and was scared to say or do anything about what he'd done. She wondered what normal people did in situations like this. This seemed like a very 'normal person' sort of problem.

Karen took another long drink and leaned back further. She rolled up one of her sleeves and looked at the finger-shaped bruises circling her wrist. They weren't too dark at the moment, but they were still there, and they made her angry.

She pouted and stared at the phone on her desk as it began to ring. Instead of answering it, she opted to take another generous gulp from her bottle. She hated answering phones, and very rarely was in the mood to do it. Even so, she kind of felt guilty for not letting Grace have her moment when the younger woman had joked about Karen's outfit. Sure, Grace should have been used to this kind of thing, but maybe the fact that Karen had seemed enthused by the joke at first and had lost that enthusiasm so quickly had disappointed her. Maybe Karen owed it to her to answer the phone a couple times today.

She reached toward the phone, but it stopped ringing before she got to it. She picked it up anyway, just in case. "Helllloo? Gr-Grace Adllerrr Designs..." She slurred. Only then did she realize how much alcohol she had just consumed. She hadn't been fully slur-drunk in quite some time. Her tolerance was high. She looked at the phone and then at her bottle. It was much more empty than she expected.

No one responded on the phone. "Heelllooo?" Karen said into the mouthpiece. There was still no answer, of course. Karen sighed and placed the phone down on the desk. She stared at it for a moment, wondering if it was going to ring again, but then she realized she hadn't properly hung it up. It was just lying on the desk, with the ear and mouthpiece facing up. She laughed and placed it back on the receiver.

She took a few more drinks and contemplated crawling under the desk for a nap. She really was exhausted. She sorta had a feeling she didn't sleep well the previous night, but she honestly couldn't remember. She did know she was up at ten o'clock this morning, and that in itself was pretty rough.

She climbed under the desk and curled herself into a ball. It was much more comfortable than it looked.

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	3. Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

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Will sighed with annoyance as he shut his car's door in front of Grace's office building. He had to drive all the way over here, on his one and only lunch hour, to make sure the office got locked up because Grace had called him and told him she was going home during her lunch break and Karen, as usual, wasn't answering the phone.

Apparently, Grace had been feeling kind of sick all morning and had thrown up once she was away from the office. She'd tried to call Karen to ask her to close the office early, but the other woman hadn't answered. Of course her next logical step was to call Will to complain about all of this. Even though Grace had claimed she was willing to head back to the office herself, Will had insisted that he could go instead. Grace didn't need to be out running around correcting Karen's mistakes if she didn't feel well, so Will decided to take one for the team and head over to lock up her office for her. Of course, he tried to call Karen a few times before finally forcing himself to actually go. And of course there was no response.

As he made his way up to the office, he wondered if Karen would be there. Sometimes she didn't answer the phone even when she was there, but she was also known to leave for very long lunches, whenever she felt like it, sometimes not coming back at all until the next day. He kind of hoped she wouldn't be there, because he wasn't sure he was going to be able to refrain from yelling at her if she was, and sometimes he felt bad afterward when he had to resort to that.

Karen had a way about her where she made everyone want to tell her off, but she also had the tendency to appear completely oblivious and hurt whenever anyone rightfully critiqued her. Will always ended up feeling guilty when she pushed him too far and he finally responded. But he was wasting his lunch hour for this. If he walked into the office to find her sitting at her desk, painting her nails or reading a magazine while the phone rang and rang, he was going to pretty justifiably annoyed. At least if she had left, even though that would be inappropriate and unprofessional as well, Will wouldn't have to yell at her. It was useless to do so anyway.

Will stepped out of the elevator and into Grace's office. All the lights were on, but there didn't seem to be anyone here.

"Karen?" Will called out, in case she was in the back room. There was no answer. He sighed and was just about to turn off the lights and lock up when he heard a small noise, almost like a groan.

Will frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Karen? You in here?" He looked around the room again, stepping forward and finally noticing Karen's purse was sitting on her desk. He was honestly starting to feel worried by this point. He hoped Karen was okay...

Before he had much time to speculate or start feeling frantic, he felt what seemed to be someone's hand grabbing at his ankle.

With a gasp, he jumped back and looked under Karen's desk. Sure enough, she was curled up under it, smiling slightly as she reached toward his ankle again. She was quite clearly under the influence of something, and even more so than usual. Her hair was disheveled, her sweater was falling off one shoulder, her shoes were discarded next to the desk, and she was wearing sunglasses, but they were falling off of her face.

"Karen-" Will sighed and bent down so he could see her better. "What on earth are you doing? Why haven't you been answering the phone?" He shook his head to himself when he realized how stupid that question was. Karen rarely answered the phone, and she actually seemed especially drunk right now. She might not be able to figure out the phone even if she wanted to. "Are you okay?" He wondered as he reached down, gripped her upper arms, and pulled her out from under the desk.

Karen stood in front of him with rather wobbly legs and frowned as she removed her sunglasses the rest of the way and her eyes fixed on the buttons of his shirt. "You're so tall today, Will." She noticed. "How did this happen?" She looked up at him with a pathetic pout and slumped shoulders, and actually looked like she had tears in her eyes.

Will stared down at her with a furrowed brow. He almost wanted to laugh, but Karen seemed genuinely upset. "You took off your shoes, Karen." He noted. "I'm not taller today. You're just not wearing shoes."

She looked down at her feet and groaned dramatically.

Will sighed and shook his head. "I warned Grace not to leave you unsupervised." He joked.

"She just left for lunch, Will. She'll be back in an hour." Karen scoffed and started to step around him. She didn't make it far before tripping over her own foot. With a small gasp, she reached out and caught herself by grabbing onto Will's arm. "Woah... Be careful. You okay, Will?" She wondered as she stared up at him with wide, concerned eyes.

Will held her steady by her arms and looked down at her. Her hair was slightly messy, her sweater didn't really match the rest of her outfit, and she just seemed generally less put-together than usual. Karen was almost always drinking, but she was never this visibly drunk. He wondered if something had happened to cause her to want to drink so heavily. Tipsy Karen was normal. High Karen was normal. This wasn't. "I'm fine..." Will frowned. "Are you okay?"

Karen laughed a strange, nervous sounding laugh. "Yeah... Will, Grace isn't here, so..." She looked up at him as though he was the one being absurd right now.

"I know Grace isn't here." Will said slowly. He still had his hands on Karen's arms, hoping to prevent her from falling down. She didn't seem to notice how much trouble she was having even standing on her own. "She called me an hour and a half ago telling me she decided to go home because she got sick at lunch. Both she and I have been trying to call you... but as usual, you wouldn't answer. And I guess at least this time you have an excuse, though it's not a great excuse as far as work goes."

"What excuse?" Karen frowned as she swayed slightly and closed her eyes for a moment. She put her hand out against Will's chest to steady herself before opening her eyes again and staring back at him. "Will, I only heard the phone ring once, and I tried to answer it." She sighed.

"Karen, what's going on with you?" Will wondered. Karen did seem to be one to drink her problems away, but she'd never needed this much alcohol to do that. Not that he'd ever witnessed. "This is weird, even for you... Did something happen? Did you and Stan have an argument or something?" He asked.

Karen frowned and shook her head, but her lip trembled as though she was about to cry. She avoided looking at Will as she answered. "No, nothing happened, Will. Stan and I are fine."

"You sure?" Will leaned down slightly so he could see into her eyes better, to judge whether or not she seemed to be telling the truth. She looked away again. "Karen... I can tell something's wrong. You're usually only half this drunk."

Karen offered a half-smile and shrugged.

As Will continued trying to look into her eyes, he noticed a smudge on her cheek. It almost looked like dirt, which wouldn't be surprising considering she'd been lying on the floor when he got here, but the longer he looked at it, the more it didn't quite look like dirt. It looked like a bruise, and it looked like Karen had tried to cover it with makeup. "Karen, what's this?" Will wondered with a frown as he let his fingers lightly brush over her cheekbone.

Rolling her eyes, Karen scoffed and shrugged out of his grip. "That's my face, Will." She spoke with an exasperated sigh before pushing her hand lightly against his shoulder and turning to walk away from him.

"Karen, stop." Will ordered, reaching out toward her and grabbing her gently but firmly by her arm in an effort to pull her back. He needed answers. Karen was frustrating to him, verging on unlikable some days, but she was his friend, kind of, and he didn't feel right dropping this so easily.

Emphatically pulling her arm out of Will's loose grip, Karen reached her other hand out, put it against his chest, and shoved him back. "Don't touch me." She demanded.

Will swallowed and raised his hands in defense. Karen actually looked angry, but something in her eyes looked scared too. "Alright..." He agreed, noticing dark marks on her wrist as well when her sleeve rode slightly up her arm. "Sorry..." He exhaled.

He looked her up and down with a much more scrutinizing eye. What had happened that she would feel the need to hide it from him? She and Will weren't exactly close, but that was the precise reason she sometimes seemed to feel comfortable sharing personal things with him - because she assumed he would look at it objectively, as her lawyer, and not bother with the warm, fuzzy feelings aspect of any issue she might have. She didn't like appearing at all vulnerable, and Will knew and respected that. Of course, that didn't mean he was going to let her brush whatever this was under the rug. Something had clearly happened, and he wanted to know what.

"Do you want something?" Karen frowned when Will had been staring at her for a few seconds too long. Her eyes still looked sort of unfocused and she still swayed slightly as she stood in front of him. "Like I said, Grace is at lunch. You'll have to come back later."

"Like I said," Will repeated what he'd already told her, "Grace went home. I just came by to make sure the office got locked up... Because you weren't answering the phone, so I wasn't sure you were even here. But you are here... And you're acting weird, and you've got bruises all over you."

"I do not." Karen pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at her wrists. She tugged the sleeves of her cardigan further down and looked back up, meeting Will's gaze. He could tell that she knew full well that he'd seen the marks. She knew she couldn't lie and expect him to believe her.

"What happened, Karen?" Will asked again. "You can tell me. If you need to take legal action, I can help with that... Or even if you don't, you can still tell me... It can stay between us. We'll work it all out together." Will offered.

Karen looked down at her feet and shook her head.

"Did Stan do that to you?" Will wondered. He didn't think Stan was that kind of person, but he really didn't know the man that well. Karen could be kind of frustrating sometimes, and Stan was a big man. If he got fed up with her, he could have easily done some damage if he wanted to.

Karen shook her head. "No. Stan didn't do anything."

"Then who did?" Will asked. Judging by the bruises on her wrists, it looked like someone had grabbed her pretty hard, and the bruise on her cheek indicated that they hit her across the face. Whatever had happened, it seemed violent, and it seemed to bother Karen a lot. It certainly bothered Will a lot. Karen was ordinarily so assertive and never let anyone push her around. The fact that she was protecting whoever did this to her was unsettling.

"Nobody, Will." Karen insisted. "I don't want to talk about it. It's just something..." She shook her head as she searched for the right words. "It's stupid. It was nothing. Just drop it."

"It's not stupid, Karen." Will frowned. "And it isn't nothing."

"It's none of your business is what it is." Karen pouted.

"Karen, you're my friend." Will told her. "I know we don't always exactly get along... but I care about you, and if someone hurt you-"

"Nobody did, Will." Karen's voice shook slightly. "Will you please just let it go? Nothing happened. Nobody hurt me. Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Just drop it, Will... Please."

Will sighed and stared down at her for a moment. He couldn't force her to tell him, and pressing the issue seemed to only be making her upset.

Karen shook her head and pressed her lips tightly together, indicating that she didn't want to tell him anything more. She had tears in her eyes and looked almost desperate. She was even trembling ever so slightly as she stared back at him.

Will felt terrible. What was he supposed to do if she wouldn't let him help her? It seemed unlikely that this wasn't something somewhat personal. If she'd been mugged or something, surely she would have called the police. She'd be more angry than scared. Karen was also hardly ever left anywhere alone, so the chances of a stranger just so happening to rob or attack her were slim. They wouldn't have ever had the chance to.

That meant that it was probably someone she knew who did this - someone who would have had the chance to be alone with her, and someone she didn't want to tell on, for whatever reason. It seemed reasonable to assume whoever had hurt her was someone she was now scared of, or someone she cared about enough to not want to get them into trouble or ruin their reputation - maybe both.

"Um, Will..." Karen finally spoke up in a small voice.

"Yeah?" Will answered.

"Do you think..." She hesitated and looked away. "Well, maybe... Do you think I could go home with you? I mean, I don't... Nevermind..." She laughed nervously and turned toward her desk, piling her sunglasses and makeup into her bag and bending down to pick up her shoes. "I'll just call Driver and have him come and get me... I guess the office is closed early since Grace is sick? Isn't that what you were coming by to tell me? I'll just-" She started stumbling toward the elevator but still hadn't put her shoes back on.

"Karen, wait." Will called after her. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?"

Karen paused, swaying slightly where she stood before she glanced back at him and shrugged. "I don't know, Will... That seems really inconvenient for me..." She paused and stared at him with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before continuing, "...but if you really want me to, I guess I could."

Will nodded. "I do. I do really want you to, Karen."

"Alright." Karen sighed as though she didn't really like the idea, but she also finally seemed to relax a bit and looked genuinely relieved. "If you insist."

Will smiled slightly, but couldn't help but to still feel uneasy. Letting her stay with him could keep whoever did this to her away from her for tonight, but it was only a short-term solution.

He locked up the office, put his hands on her arms and led her downstairs, ignoring the slightly judgmental stares coming from a couple people across the street as they watched Karen stumble toward the car and Will fighting to keep her from falling down onto the sidewalk.

He helped her into the back seat - hopefully she'd draw less attention this way. The last thing he needed right now was for the cops to pull him over. "Put on your seat belt." He ordered. She leaned back against the seat and started slumping over, ignoring his request. With a sigh, he put his hands on her shoulders, pulled her up into a sitting position, pulled the seat belt across her chest, and buckled it in place.

Karen let out a small shriek as she stared down at the seat belt and gripped the material in her hand. "What is this?" She gasped.

Will rolled his eyes. "Seat belt, Karen. Leave it alone." He ordered. Will closed the door with a sigh and made his way up to the driver's side door, climbed in, fastened his own seat belt, and began driving toward home.

"Where're we going, driver?" Karen slurred from the back seat. "What time is it?"

"I'm not your driver. It's Will. We're going to my house, remember?" Will called back to her. He looked in his rear-view mirror to make sure she wasn't doing anything stupid back there.

"Will?" Karen sounded really confused. "Is Grace up there?" She unbuckled her seat belt and climbed up into the front seat.

Will exhaled, but couldn't really stop her while he was driving. "Karen, please just sit down... Put on your seat belt. I don't want a ticket."

"Ticket?" Karen scoffed. "You don't get tickets for that, Will. You need to learn how to talk to cops." She sat down in the front seat, but didn't move to put on her seat belt. Instead, she produced a flask from somewhere and started drinking from it.

"Karen!" Will gasped. "Put that away!" If he made it home without being pulled over, it was going to be a miracle. He reached toward the flask, but she held it out of his reach. She was unexpectedly coordinated in that moment. It seemed protecting her alcohol was important enough that even being plastered didn't keep her from succeeding. "If we get pulled over, you're paying the fines." He grumbled.

With a scoff, Karen threw the now-empty flask into the floorboard and stared out the window. "Grace is mad at me, Will." She spoke in a small voice that almost seemed to tremble.

Will glanced toward her and frowned. She seemed to actually feel upset by whatever she was talking about. He doubted that Grace was any more upset with Karen than usual, but Karen seemed to think she was. "Whatever it is, she'll get over it." Will assured her.

Karen shook her head and began shrugging out of her sweater. "Grace wears stuff from K-Mart all the time, and I was mean and didn't let her make fun of my sweater that doesn't match my outfit, but she was right. It doesn't match..."

Will looked over toward Karen again. She had tears in her eyes. "It's okay, Karen... It's just a sweater..." He'd never seen Karen so upset over what was virtually nothing.

"It doesn't match, Will!" Karen sounded almost frantic as she rolled down the power window and tossed the garment out.

"Karen, stop." Will sighed, rolled the window back up from his side and activated the child locks so she couldn't throw out anything else. He glanced toward her, frowning now that he could see the finger-shaped bruises on both of her wrists. Without the cardigan covering her arms, he could see what looked like the result of someone grabbing her by both arms, very hard.

She looked back at him and seemed to notice his eyes focusing on her wrists. She immediately looked down and tried to cover her arms with her hands. The car was filled with an uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Karen started sobbing.

Will felt his shoulders slump. He needed to pull over, but it was going to take a minute to find a good spot to do so. "It's alright, Karen..." He assured her in the meantime. He wasn't even sure what he meant by that. He still didn't know the source of the bruises, and it definitely wasn't okay that whatever had happened had happened. He guessed he just wanted her to know that he was here for her and would do whatever he could to make things better, even if he didn't know yet what exactly it was that he needed to do.

Karen didn't answer. She just kept crying, very loud, dramatic sobs.

Will glanced back at her, wanting to ask her again what had happened, but also not wanting to press the matter when she so clearly didn't want to tell him. He focused back on the road. "Everything's gonna be okay, Karen." He promised. He didn't know what else to say.

"I don't have bruises on me, Will!" She insisted between sobs. "Don't look at me!"

"I'm not..." Will exhaled as he found a place to pull over. He put the car into park and was able to focus more attention on his friend. She didn't want to talk about whatever she'd been through. He knew that already. "What can I do to help you, Karen?" He asked. She didn't have to tell him anything, but for the moment, he could at least try to help her somehow anyway.

"Nothing!" She sobbed, bringing her hands up to her face.

"You don't have to tell me what happened, Karen." Will frowned. "But that doesn't mean you can't accept my help. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. No questions asked."

Karen shook her head as she continued crying. It took her half a minute to finally start speaking again. "That sweater didn't match... I didn't want Grace to see me wearing it again... But..." She hesitated and pouted as she moved her hands down and stared at the bruises on her wrists. "...I don't want her to see this either." She sobbed even harder.

Will nodded in understanding. She didn't want Grace to see the bruises. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and handed it to her. "Wear mine." He offered.

Karen stuck out her lower lip as she stared up at him. She still had tears running down her cheeks and was sniffing back sobs. She reluctantly accepted the jacket and shrugged into it. "I look like a lesbian." She spoke in a small voice as she leaned back against the seat and stared down at her lap, but seemed to not be as upset anymore.

Will shook his head and rolled his eyes before leaning across the seat and pulling Karen's seat belt over her and fastening it. "Keep the seat belt on this time." He ordered as he moved back into his own seat and put the car back into drive.

He wasn't sure how this was going to be solved, but perhaps for now just getting her to his apartment would be enough success to put his mind and hers somewhat at ease. Even if she wouldn't tell him what happened, at least he'd know she was safe for the moment.

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	4. Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4

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Grace sighed as she sunk down into her bed. She'd felt sick all morning, but was actually feeling a lot better now that she'd thrown up. Karen had probably been right about the bagel guy. She didn't feel sick until she had that bagel this morning, and immediately after she threw up at lunch, she felt infinitely better. She probably wouldn't have really even had to go home early... except that she had gotten a little vomit in her hair.

Now that she was out of the shower and snuggling in her bed, she really didn't want to go back for the last couple hours of work, even if she did feel better. She loved her bed.

Grace listened as she heard the apartment's front door open. She wondered if she should pretend to be asleep so she didn't have to get up. If Will thought she was still sick, he might even cook some soup for her. She didn't really feel like soup though.

"Grace, I'm home." She heard him call out, followed by a muffled sound. It sounded like he was quietly talking to someone else. Surely Jack wasn't here... She would have heard him. She listened more carefully. Why would Will invite someone over when he thought she was home sick? She didn't want visitors... Or at least he should have assumed she wouldn't want visitors if he was under the impression that she felt sick.

"Get off the floor." She heard Will's frustrated, muffled voice though the door. "Lay down on the couch."

"I don't wanna." That sounded like Karen!

Grace sighed loudly and climbed out of bed. She was a little angry with Karen, for not answering the phone when she called. She hardly expected the older woman to, but it still made her feel betrayed anytime the phone went unanswered and it was a call Grace considered important. And now she was kind of angry with Will too - she asked him to do one thing - to lock up her office... and now for some reason he'd brought Karen back with him? So much for having a relaxing evening...

She made her way to her bedroom door, opened it and walked out into the living room. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared in annoyance at what she was witnessing. Will seemed to be trying to guide Karen toward the couch, and Karen was dragging her feet and twisting her body around any way she could to avoid cooperating.

"Will..." Grace frowned as she took in the scene. "What's going on?" Karen was wearing Will's suit jacket, wasn't wearing any shoes, and had tear streaks down her face. Her hair was a disheveled mess and she clearly would have been practically unable to stand on her own two feet if Will were not holding her upright. Even though Grace was used to seeing her friend drink, seeing Karen this wasted was strange.

"Karen's staying here tonight." Will answered as Karen tried to slink out of his grip. "Karen, stop that. Hold still." Will demanded as he grabbed onto her more firmly and stared at Grace. He sounded and looked quite tired and irritated.

"She's staying here? Why?" Grace shook her head. This seemed like it was going to be extremely annoying. If she was drunk enough to need a babysitter, she could have gone to her own house. She had enough employees who she paid to do stuff like this. "Why? Why, Will? Why would you do this to me? Why is she so drunk? Why is she staying here?" Grace wondered. "Why is she wearing your jacket? You never let me wear it..." She added with a pout.

Will shook his head, ignoring her questions. "Karen, you'll feel a lot better once you sleep this off." He advised, pushing her toward the couch again.

"No, Will." She frowned, finally making eye contact with Grace and sticking her lower lip out. "Grace... I'm sorry I said your clothes were from K-Mart." She started sobbing.

Grace stared at her with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open in shock. Karen wasn't usually an emotional drunk, at least, not to this extreme. Grace didn't even know what to say. Did Karen really feel this bad about making fun of Grace's shirt?

"She's kind of emotional right now..." Will explained as he pushed her down onto the couch. Karen didn't fight him anymore. She sunk down against the cushions as though utterly defeated. "Just try to sleep, Karen." Will ordered as he kept his hand on her shoulder for a moment, likely worried that she might jump back up if he didn't.

Karen finally remained still on the couch, but didn't seem to be trying to sleep. Instead, she stared up at Will with her lips in a pout. Will shook his head and took a few steps toward Grace. "You feeling better?" He asked.

Grace nodded slowly, but then looked around Will toward Karen, who was now snuggling down into the couch. She closed her eyes and curled her body into a little ball. Grace looked back at Will. "Will... What the hell?" She asked simply.

"Come talk to me in the kitchen." Will suggested, putting his hand on her arm and leading her out of the living room. With a lowered voice, he explained. "We have a bit of a problem here, Grace. She was really, really drunk when I went to lock up the office." He told her.

"Why are you whispering?" Grace frowned. "That fact seems pretty obvious."

"She asked me not to tell you this." Will continued in a low voice.

"Tell me what, that she's drunk?" Grace scoffed. "I think I could have figured that one out on my own, Will."

"Grace." Will's shoulders slumped. "Could you stop interrupting?"

"I'm not interrupting!" Grace insisted.

Will stared at her with raised eyebrows until she snapped her mouth closed, silently agreeing to let him finish his explanation.

"So I went into the office, and she seemed kind of upset. She was under her desk, and she'd clearly had a lot to drink." Will told her.

"Was it what I said about her cardigan? Oh my god! It was, wasn't it? I can't believe this! That's why she's wearing your jacket, isn't it?" Grace gasped. "I was just joking! She does it to me all the time. I didn't do anything wrong, Will. She's totally overreacting. She makes fun of my clothes every single day, and I don't get drunk and cry about it, even when I kinda want to. Literally every single day, Will."

"No, Grace... I mean, that is kinda why she's wearing my jacket... She threw the cardigan out the window on the drive home... Said something about it not matching and about you and K-Mart, but that doesn't matter." Will explained.

"Oh my god... I hurt her feelings. I actually hurt her feelings..." Grace glanced around Will and at Karen, who seemed to have fallen asleep by now. She looked rather peaceful and content lying on the couch, except for the dried tears streaked down her face and a smudge of dirt on her cheek. "I didn't know Karen had feelings." Grace mused.

"Sweetie, I doubt she really cared." Will sighed. "Once again, stop interrupting."

Grace rolled her eyes and shook her head. She couldn't believe Will was giving her a lecture about this. Karen made fun of what Grace was wearing every single day, and the one time Grace did it back, Karen turned into an emotional-drunk, and Will became protective of her and was going to make Grace into the bad guy.

"She was acting really weird, Grace." Will explained. "Weird for Karen, which is really, really weird... So I tried to figure out what was wrong."

"Now that you mention it, she was weird this morning too!" Grace remembered. That was even before Grace had mentioned her cardigan not matching her outfit. "She didn't seem drunk, but she seemed really spaced out. She walked into the office like a zombie, and when I started talking to her and touched her arm, she actually screamed. I just figured she took something really illegal..."

"Well, she was definitely drunk when I got there... So I sorta started searching for clues for what might be going on with her to make her want to drink so much. I noticed a mark on her cheek - a bruise." Will noted. "And when I pressed for more information, she started acting angry an defensive, and I eventually noticed marks on her wrists too, Grace, like someone had grabbed her really violently. She wouldn't tell me what happened."

Grace frowned and peered around Will again, at Karen. She remained still and silent on the couch, with her eyes closed, and sure enough, her cheek did have a light bruise on it. Grace had assumed it was dirt, but now that Will mentioned it, the dark mark did look like a bruise. Grace frowned as she observed her friend. The woman was like an older sister to Grace. A spoiled, entitled, and sometimes overly harsh sister, but a sister still. Lying curled up on the couch, with the bruise on her cheek and tear marks down her face, Karen looked strangely innocent and vulnerable. She wasn't covered with a blanket, but still looked cozy with Will's jacket on - which was quite big on her.

Now that Will had informed her about the bruises, Grace felt pretty bad for how the morning had gone between her and Karen. The older woman had obviously just experienced something violent and terrifying, and Grace had had no idea. Whatever had happened, it clearly bothered Karen enough for her to actually scream when Grace unexpectedly put her hand on Karen's arm, and bothered her enough so that she decided to drink a whole lot once Grace had left. If Grace had known that something had happened, no way would she have immediately left her friend all alone like that.

"Do you think someone mugged her?" Grace wondered. "She still had her purse when she came in."

Will shook his head. "She seemed too sad for it to be something like that. I figure if it was someone she didn't know, she'd be pissed, right? She'd call the police. She'd tell me... She seemed more scared and sad than angry and vengeful. I think it was someone she knows. All she would tell me was that it wasn't Stan, but who knows if that's even true..."

"You think Stan got upset with her and hit her?" Grace frowned. Karen was often a pretty aggravating person, but the thought of someone hitting her out of anger made Grace's heart hurt. Karen could say some pretty mean things. She could be downright selfish and inconsiderate, but she didn't deserve anyone to become physically violent with her. It was even worse that she had bruises on her wrists too - whoever had hit her may have even held her down when they did it.

Will shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know... It's possible. She seemed like she was scared to go home. She asked to stay here."

"Oh..." Grace nodded. So bringing her here wasn't Will's idea. That spoke volumes. "It has to be someone at her house then. Do you think Stan's really like that?" She frowned. She didn't know Stan that well, but he never seemed like a violent person to her.

"I didn't think so, but..." Will shrugged and sighed. "Somebody did something to her... Whoever it was, they're threatening enough that she's scared to go back, and scared to say anything about it. So I don't think this is something like her and the maid getting into a cat fight."

Grace frowned. "We've got to figure out what happened, Will. We can't let her go back if she's gonna get hurt again."

"I know." Will nodded. "She won't really talk to me though. Maybe she'll talk to you. You're a lot closer with her than I am."

"But you're her lawyer." Grace noted. "If she'd tell anyone, it'd be you, right?"

"Obviously not." Will answered. "I think she comes to me when she's determined to see her situation objectively. Maybe this time she needs to talk on a more personal level."

Grace nodded. Will was right. This was a big deal, and seemed very personal. If Karen were going to tell either of them what had happened, it would probably be her.

xxxxxx


	5. Chapter 5

xxxxxx

CHAPTER 5

xxxxxx

Groaning, Karen slowly opened her eyes. For a moment, she wasn't sure where she was. Whatever she was sleeping on wasn't her bed, and it didn't smell like her house either. She put her hand against her forehead as she blinked and stared at the ceiling. She groaned again when she realized she was at Will and Grace's apartment. She didn't remember coming here. What day was it? Why did she feel so hungover? Why was she drinking so much at Will and Grace's? It took a lot for her to get drunk enough to wake up confused in someone else's house.

"Hey, Karen." Grace spoke in a low, calm voice from somewhere nearby. Even so, Karen winced. She thought she was at least alone in here. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked at Grace, who was sitting on the end of the couch, staring at her with wide, uncertain eyes.

"Jesus, Grace..." Karen scoffed. "Were you watching me sleep?"

"Well, no... I mean, kinda, but I was just waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to talk to you." Grace was still using a careful, measured voice. She sounded like she was talking to a little kid, trying to convince them to eat their vegetables or something else kids would be skeptical of. That made Karen skeptical as well.

She looked down at herself. She was wearing a men's suit jacket. "Oh, god..." She groaned as she leaned her head back against the couch cushion and closed her eyes. Pieces of her day were coming back to her now. She remembered this morning - she remembered Wardrobe-Guy's fill in attacking her and threatening her. Then she recalled going to work, and then all of a sudden Will was there, asking her about bruises. He'd somehow convinced her to come home with him. On the way home, she'd thrown her cardigan out the window, because it didn't match her outfit, and she was angry with herself for wearing it, but then she remembered her arms were bruised up and had started crying, because she didn't want Grace, or Jack, or anyone else to see the bruises. Will had given her his jacket so she could keep her wrists covered. She couldn't believe she'd allowed herself to get drunk enough to sob like that in front of Will... She usually had such great control over her emotions.

"You okay, Karen?" Grace wondered, putting her hand very lightly on Karen's arm.

Karen opened her eyes to see that Grace was holding out a glass of water and still staring at her with wide eyes. The younger woman was forcing a very fake-looking smile.

"I'm fine, Grace." Karen sighed, taking the water and gladly gulping it down. She had drank a lot of alcohol... Normally when she woke up after drinking, she'd drink more, but the thought of that actually made her feel kinda sick, for once.

"You know you could tell me anything, right Karen?" Grace said out of nowhere.

Karen frowned and stared at her with narrowed eyes.

"I mean, you don't have to tell me anything. It's up to you." Grace looked nervous, but also sad. "But you can tell me anything you want, if you want to. I'm here for you. We're friends, Karen. Friends can tell each other anything."

Karen nodded slowly. She still didn't know what she was going to do about her problem. She mostly wanted to ignore it and hope it went away on its own, but if she didn't do something, she wouldn't be able to go home without feeling scared. She didn't want to live like that. But how would telling Grace about any of this help her at all? She still couldn't go to the police... English would get mad and do something crazy... She also really didn't want to look weak in front of Grace. She wanted Grace to see her as strong and powerful and in control of every aspect of her life. She couldn't bear to tell her friend that some guy had tried to force himself on her and that she was utterly powerless to do anything about it. It was embarrassing and degrading. It made her look pitiful.

"I'm sorry I made fun of your sweater earlier." Grace continued talking. "I didn't mean it. I was just joking with you... You know, like how you joke with me about my clothes."

Karen shook her head. "Honey... I don't joke about clothes."

Grace smiled. "I'm sorry anyway. Your outfit was fine."

Karen laughed and raised her eyebrows. "Grace, it was most certainly not fine."

"Better than the Will's jacket-skirt combo you've got going on now." Grace laughed.

Karen looked down at herself again. "What a mess..." She sighed and shook her head. She couldn't exactly take the jacket off now though. She didn't want Grace to see her bruised up arms. That's the whole reason she'd put the jacket on in the first place.

"So... Anything you want to talk about?" Grace wondered, staring at her expectantly.

Karen shrugged and looked down at her lap. "Not really."

"Oh... Okay..." Grace bit her lower lip. "Well, we don't have to talk. We can just hang out." She suggested.

Karen shrugged again. Will must have told her something. Even though he really had no idea what was going on either, he was definitely suspicious, and it seemed he'd passed that suspicion on to Grace. Karen didn't want to talk about this with Grace just yet, but she wasn't opposed to sitting with her friend for a while. It wasn't like she had anything else to do, and maybe Grace could be the distraction she needed to help her forget about this for a while.

"Do you want to watch something on tv?" Grace suggested. She seemed very uncomfortable with silence right now. "I can't really sleep anyway."

Karen frowned and looked around the room. "What time is it?" She wondered. The lights in the room were turned on but it seemed to be dark outside. "How long have I been asleep?"

"It's about midnight." Grace offered a small smile. "You needed that sleep though, Karen. You were really, really drunk earlier."

Karen sighed and reluctantly agreed to watch tv with Grace. She didn't really care for television much, but figured it might keep the younger woman from talking as much if something else in the room was making noise.

They made their way over to the other couch and Grace flipped through the channels. "Nothing good's on this late." Grace complained.

Karen shrugged. She didn't really care what they watched. She pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around herself as she pulled her legs up onto the cushion. "Grace, where are my shoes?" She wondered.

"I'm not sure." Grace responded. "That's a question for Will."

Karen nodded. Will had taken her here from work. She remembered that. She must have discarded her shoes somewhere along the way. She hoped she hadn't thrown them out the window too. Shoes were important, and those ones were expensive.

She glanced over toward Grace, remembering that Will had claimed she had gone home sick. That's why Will had come to the office in the first place, because Grace couldn't come back to close it early. "You feeling better, Grace?" Karen wondered.

Grace looked back at her and smiled. She nodded. "Yes. Thanks, Karen. It was the bagel - just like you said. I shouldn't buy stuff from food carts."

"I told you, honey." Karen shook her head. "Eat stuff that's probably stored in someone's car trunk, and expect to get sick."

Grace laughed and flipped through the channels some more until she settled on the game show network.

"Name a job where you'd need to be attractive to get hired." The game show host spoke.

"Ooh!" Grace seemed excited as she bounced a bit in her seat and started offering her own responses to the question. "Actor! Model! Stripper!"

The contestant offered a less-intelligent answer. "Um... Nurse?"

Grace snorted with laughter. "Ha! Idiot. Maybe in a porno... Oh! That's a good answer. Porn star!" Grace shouted at the screen. A buzzer sounded and the host moved on to the next contestant. "They're so bad at this. I could totally win Family Feud." Grace boasted.

Karen watched Grace instead of the television. She wondered if her friend had ever had an issue similar to the one Karen was presently going through. Most women, at some point in their lives, had to deal with a man who was far more interested in them than they were in him. Some men were just annoying and lingered or called too much. Some were kinda forceful and had to be smacked or pepper-sprayed.

Sometimes when Karen thought about what had happened between her and the mechanic guy this morning, she felt stupid for making a big deal about it. English hadn't really done much. In the moment, it was scary and painful, but in the end, did it really matter? He'd grabbed her kind of hard and hit her... What was the big deal? He had ran his hands over her chest, and had seemed like he was going to take things much further than Karen wanted, but he didn't end up doing it. Maybe she was being crazy acting like it was a big deal when it wasn't.

If she pressed charges, what would they charge the guy with anyway? Hitting her when she hit him first? Grabbing her arms? Kinda sorta trying to undress her but not actually doing it? What crime did he really commit? He probably wouldn't even get in trouble. She'd just make him mad.

Trying to distance herself from the situation and see it more objectively, she thought about how she would see this if it were someone else. If it were a different person who this had happened to. Would she tell them they were over-reacting? She stared at Grace, who excitedly gazed at the television screen and continued shouting out answers to the game show host's questions and laughing when the contestants on the screen failed.

If Grace had come to her and said some guy had hit her and grabbed her and groped all over her and wouldn't let her go, Karen would be pissed. She would personally make sure the guy suffered for it. If it had been anyone other than herself, Karen would have felt they were perfectly justified being scared and angry. Maybe it was a big deal...

"Oh my god, Karen!" Grace squealed. "Stripper is actually on there!" She had a huge grin on her face as she turned toward Karen, but it dissolved quickly when she noticed Karen had been staring at her and wasn't smiling back. "Do you wanna watch something else?" Grace frowned.

"No, your stripper show's fine." Karen answered. She exhaled tiredly and stared past Grace's shoulder into the darkness of the kitchen. The thoughts weighing her down really wanted out of her head. She wanted to talk to someone and work out a solution to this mess, but she really didn't want Grace to know that she was actually scared of one of her servants. That was pathetic.

It took a few moments for her to realize Grace was still staring at her. Neither of them were talking, but they were both staring, and now that Karen had focused on Grace instead of zoning out staring past her, it was starting to feel kind of awkward.

"Karen, did I ever tell you about Marcus?" Grace asked as she turned her body more to face toward her friend and ignored the game show which had become nothing but background noise for both of them at this point.

Karen frowned and shook her head. She hoped this story wasn't too long, because she was already bored by it. She didn't know who Grace was talking about, and really didn't care to.

"Marcus Rice. He was my boyfriend for a while in college." Grace elaborated. "Not for very long... I mean, really barely even for a day... But technically, we were dating for a minute."

Karen exhaled. She was so tempted to inform Grace that she didn't really need to hear this story, but decided to be nice for once and let the younger woman bore her with whatever this tale was. At least if Grace was ranting about some guy she dated, she wouldn't be asking Karen any questions.

"Well, he was really cute. Like... the cutest guy in my theater class. We had to take theater. They made us..." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, why would I take theater? Why would anybody? It's a very select group who could even benefit from it, so I don't know why they made us. How could theater have possibly benefited my career? Why would I willingly take that class?" She laughed.

"Is there a point to this story, Grace?" Karen wondered as she moved her elbow up to the top of the couch and rested her head on her hand. "Am I supposed to be guessing why you'd take theater? You just told me it was required. You already answered your own question."

Grace frowned. "No... There's a point. I just got distracted... At any rate... Marcus was in my class, and he was really cute. I really, really wanted to date him. A lot of the girls did. A couple of the guys even wanted to date him. But he chose me." She smiled slightly as she said it, but her small grin quickly fell. "He didn't turn out to be so great though."

For once, Grace had managed to capture Karen's attention. It seemed like her friend was trying to relate to her situation, like she had read Karen's thoughts, or had at least made an educated guess and was subtly attempting to offer a parallel of her own to help her decide how to deal with it. But if that were the case, Grace's story wasn't going to be lighthearted.

Karen frowned. "What did he do?" She wondered in a small voice. She didn't want to hear that someone had been violent with Grace, even if it was several years in the past.

"Well," Grace exhaled. "We only dated for a day, like I said... He asked me out after class on a friday, and we decided to go to a party together that night. I wasn't twenty-one yet... I don't think he was either... But he was friends with frat boys and they'd managed to get a bunch of alcohol. I should have known right then that we weren't going to be compatible." Grace scoffed.

Silently, Karen waited for her friend to continue.

"As soon as we got there he seemed more interested in using me as a prop than actually talking to me or really introducing me to anyone beyond just telling them that I was his girlfriend. I don't even think he told anyone my name. Maybe he didn't even know it." She shrugged. "So I was feeling more and more like I didn't really want to date him after all. He was a jerk. He didn't really like me; he just wanted to show off that he had a girlfriend so his friends would think he was cool. I started feeling annoyed, and I guess he could tell, so he asked to talk to me alone in one of the bedrooms. I figured we were going to break up already, which I didn't like, but I figured it was better if he just ripped the bandaid off and we finished the relationship just as quickly as we'd started it."

Karen fought to remain focused on Grace's story. The younger woman sure didn't know how to be concise. Karen really did want to know how the story ended though, so she suffered through the middle part.

"But then I figured maybe he was going to apologize, because you know, sometimes people don't make a good first impression, but they're not really like that. I really liked him, and I really wanted things to work out between us." Grace explained. "Anyway, my heart was just racing when I went in there with him. I was scared he'd break up with me, but I kinda wanted him to, but also wanted him not to... I really liked him before I started to get to know him, you know?"

"Not really." Karen answered. She mostly didn't like anyone, whether she got to know them or not. "Did he break up you or not?" She asked.

"No." Grace laughed nervously. "But he didn't apologize either. He just started trying to make out with me... and a part of me liked it, because that's what I had wanted. I liked him... I wanted to be with him romantically, and to do sexual stuff... you know... like kissing and all that. But he was all over me, and after treating me like a trophy instead of a person all night, I wasn't as interested. So I kinda shrugged away from him and laughed it off. I went back outside with everyone else, because he was kinda being creepy and I didn't want to be alone with him, but then he came up to me later that night and started acting really possessive. I was talking to another guy, and he grabbed me pretty hard and acted really jealous. It was kind of scary. And he was even acting like this in front of other people. I didn't know what to do."

"Well, what happened?" Karen frowned.

"I broke up with him, right there in front of everyone. That's what happened. He got mad, and looked like he was going to hit me. He balled his hand up and everything, and he looked pissed, Karen... Absolutely pissed." Grace's eyes were wide as she continued. "I thought he might actually punch me... But then he noticed everyone at the party was staring at him. So he got mad and left."

"Is that it?" Karen wondered. "Did he leave you alone after that?"

Grace shook her head. "I thought he would. I thought it was done. I thought we had broken up and it was over... But he kept trying to talk to me after class, and he even started following me around campus. He told me that if I didn't date him again, he'd tell everyone we had sex and that I was a slut. I didn't know what to do."

"Uggh." Karen groaned and leaned back against the couch. "Men are such pigs, Grace. They think they can just do whatever they want."

Grace kind of nodded and shrugged at the same time. "Yeah... Some of 'em, for sure... Anyway, he did start telling people I was a slut... I tried to talk to him after class in the hallway one day, to get him to stop spreading lies about me. He took that as a cue to try to kiss me again, and started getting kinda rough... So I punched him and kicked him in the crotch. A professor saw the whole thing. He got kicked out of the class. Rumors started going the other way - people heard he was abusive towards girls, and no one would date him. The frat guys didn't want to associate with him anymore. I think he was mostly only at the college for frat parties and girls, so when no one would give him the time of day anymore, he dropped out. He never bothered me again."

Karen narrowed her eyes. "So, what you're telling me..." She hesitated as she looked at Grace, who stared silently back at her. "...Is that... I should give this guy a bad reputation, so no one will want to associate with him anymore? And then he'll just leave?"

"What guy, Karen?" Grace frowned as she stared intently into her friend's eyes.

Wincing, Karen covered her own mouth with her hand as she stared back at Grace. She hadn't meant to say that. She had kind of accidentally just admitted to more than she meant to before she was ready to talk about any of this. Now Grace knew at the very least, that a guy was somehow bothering her.

"Karen, please just tell me." Grace pleaded, reaching out and grasping Karen's hands. "You're one of my closest friends, and I know someone did something to you, and it hurts that you won't let me help you. I won't do anything unless you ask me to. Even if you tell me what happened, I won't do anything until we figure out how we want to go about handling it. You're not alone... Whatever happened, if someone threatened you, or you're not sure what they'll do... You and I can deal with it together... Will can help you if you want to press charges... Or not. You don't have to get him involved at all. I won't say anything. Whatever you tell me, it'll stay between us unless you say otherwise. Karen, please let me help you."

Grace looked so desperate. It kind of made Karen feel bad. She seemed more bothered by this than Karen was. But Grace was right. Karen had to do something. She couldn't stay with Will and Grace forever. She was going to have to go home eventually, and when she did, she wanted to feel safe there.

With a long, loud sigh, Karen closed her eyes for a moment and squeezed Grace's hands. "Don't say anything to Will... Or Jack... Or anyone. This is embarrassing enough as it is." She requested.

Grace nodded. "I won't say anything. I promise."

"Okay..." Karen hesitated. This story made her look kind of pathetic, and she did feel slightly to blame for what had happened, since the guy had been a creep and she hadn't really minded so much at first. "So some english guy is filling in for my wardrobe guy... He's terrible at it too. I should fire him. I want to fire him."

Grace frowned. She seemed confused. "Did you try to fire him? Is he the one who hit you? You can't let him get away with that. You're allowed to fire someone if you want to."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Grace." Karen pouted. "No... I didn't try to fire him. But yeah, he did hit me. I hit him first though."

"Why did you hit him?" Grace wondered. She probably still wasn't sure if Karen deserved it. This wasn't the first time she'd gotten into a somewhat physical fight with one of her employees. None of the other disputes had been anything like this though.

Karen sighed and looked down at her lap. She needed to just get the whole story out. Maybe it wasn't a big deal. Maybe it was. Maybe it was her own fault. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe she needed to do something to get the guy in trouble. Maybe she didn't. Grace could help her sort it out, but not until she told her friend the whole story.

"Well... I was getting dressed, and he was trying to help, but he had the fashion sense of... no offense, Grace... But his fashion sense was barely better than yours. So I was pretty much just getting my clothes together on my own. But then he started being weird, and I didn't like it, but then I kinda didn't mind it... but then I didn't like it again. He was kinda standing really close to me, and smelling me." She shuddered at the memory.

"Oh my god, Karen... Smelling you?" Grace's eyes were huge and her mouth was hanging open in shock. "You've got to fire him..."

"Needless to say, it got old fast." Karen offered a nervous laugh. "I was done playing around with him, but he didn't seem to feel the same. He grabbed me and wouldn't let me go, tried to kiss me... That's when I slapped him."

"You had every right to." Grace assured her.

"So then he got upset and hit me back." Karen explained. "And then he pushed me down on the bed and wouldn't let me up..." She paused, remembering and wondering if she shouldn't have said anything to Grace about this. Pathetic, stupid situations like this weren't meant to happen to people like her. With an exhale, she continued. "He held me down by my wrists." She rolled up her sleeves slightly and showed Grace bruises she was certain the other woman already knew about - Will and Grace told each other everything. Will had seen them, which was basically the same thing as Grace seeing them.

"Karen..." Grace put her fingers lightly on one of Karen's wrists and frowned. "Did he..." She hesitated.

Karen guessed at what she was trying to ask and shook her head in response. "No. I think... maybe... Maybe he was going to, but Rosario knocked on the door to tell me the car was ready, and I think it kinda scared him, knowing that Rosario was so close and might hear something if he kept it up. But before he let me go, he kinda threatened me. I'm not sure what he meant, and I guess it wasn't a big deal... I mean, I'm fine... He pushed his hand up my shirt and tried to take my skirt off, but he didn't really get far. It didn't last that long before he stopped. He didn't really do anything." She shrugged. She didn't want this to be a big deal. She didn't want to acknowledge how defenseless she had been in that moment. It scared her.

"Didn't do anything? Yes he did, Karen!" Grace frowned and shook her head. "And you're telling me this isn't a big deal? It's a very big deal! He hit you... Karen, he tried to rape you!"

Karen winced at Grace's language. She didn't want to see the situation that way, but she knew Grace was right. If Rosario hadn't knocked when she had, maybe English wouldn't have stopped. It was quite clear what his intentions were, groping around under her shirt, unzipping her skirt, telling her not to scream or cry. She knew what he was trying to do... She just didn't want to believe something like that could happen to her - to acknowledge how much danger she had been in. Karen frowned as she felt tears springing to her eyes.

"Aw, Karen..." Grace had tears in her eyes as well as she held out her arms. She leaned forward and wrapped them around Karen's shoulders, holding her close as Karen wrapped her arms around Grace as well. "We're gonna fire him. And press charges." Grace said. "Whatever we need to do, we'll do it. I'll help you. He's not getting away with this."

Karen frowned and sniffed back tears as she continued hugging her friend close. "Maybe I should just pretend nothing happened. He's a mechanic anyway. Once my other wardrobe guy is back, I won't even have to deal with him anymore."

"No." Grace disagreed. "That's not fair. You can't just let him pretend like he didn't do anything wrong. You can't act like nothing happened."

"Why not?" Karen shrugged.

"Because he hurt my friend." Grace pulled back and put her hands on Karen's upper-arms as she looked into her eyes. "He did something terrible to you. This is your employee, Karen. You trusted him to do a job, and instead he took advantage and attacked you... I won't let him get away with that."

Karen exhaled, but she knew Grace was right. She didn't want this guy to get away with this any more than Grace did. She was just apprehensive due to his threats and figured it would be easier to ignore the issue than to deal with it.

"You're right, Grace. He deserves to get in trouble. He deserves to be fired." Karen nodded.

"Exactly." Grace agreed. "No one messes with Karen Walker and gets away with it."

It sounded like a lot of work, and Karen kind of dreaded dealing with this, but she knew it was something she had to do, and she felt relieved that she had been brave enough to share the story with Grace. She wasn't going to have to go through this alone now.

"We'll figure this all out." Grace promised as she pulled Karen back into a hug.

"Thanks, Grace." Karen leaned against Grace and closed her eyes. Just telling someone what happened was a weight off her shoulders. She wasn't sure how this was going to end, but she did feel slightly better now that she'd talked to Grace, even if a specific solution wasn't quite worked out yet.

xxxxxx


	6. Chapter 6

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CHAPTER 6

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After a long night of tossing and turning, Will finally got up pretty early in the morning to find Grace and Karen asleep on the sofa in front of the tv. Both women had tear marks on their cheeks and had their arms around each other as they slept. It was a somewhat shocking and heartbreaking scene for Will to take in - he'd seen Grace at her worst time and time again, but even so, seeing her upset was painful for him. And of course it was rare for anyone to detect even a hint of emotion from Karen, so seeing her looking so vulnerable was unsettling.

Will knew as soon as he'd seen them that Grace must have gotten Karen to finally tell her what happened. He was relieved too when his two friends woke up and Karen was willing to have a conversation with him about it as well. She told him that one of her employees, a mechanic filling in for her wardrobe assistant, had attacked her.

She seemed to be in a better state of mind than the previous day. Grace must have helped her come to terms with what had happened. Karen didn't seem as ashamed or fearful when she asked him to help her sort it all out. She requested that Will come with her to her house so that she could personally fire the guy, but also wanted to press charges and hoped to file a restraining order against him.

At first, Will wasn't sure how attempting to file charges might go, since Karen's confrontation with the man was a full day ago and there was no proof besides her word that he'd been the one to cause her bruises. If he denied it, which was likely, they'd have nowhere to go from there. But Karen had told him about a security camera she had in the room, which would likely be all the evidence they needed. He agreed to go with her to her mansion and review the footage so he'd know what they had to work with.

"Are you sure you're okay with me watching this?" Will wondered as he sat in front of a monitor in a small viewing room at Karen's house. "I know you said this happened while you were getting dressed..."

"I had on a bra and panties the whole time." She told him. "It's no big deal either way, Will." She added. Karen wasn't exactly shy about these things - or else she wouldn't have been willing to undress in front of an employee she'd only just met.

"Alright." Will nodded as he watched the screen. Karen had fast-forwarded it to the right spot and they were watching the recording together.

Will frowned as he looked at the screen, where Karen and her servant, a man whose name he learned was Richard Leary, stood over her bed, looking down at an assortment of clothes. The video had no audio to go along with it, so he couldn't hear anything they were saying.

"He actually thought that was a dress, Will." Karen shook her head and frowned as they watched Karen on the screen tossing a revealing nightgown onto a pile of clothes on the floor. Will could tell Karen was trying very hard to seem like watching this didn't bother her, but at the same time, her voice shook very slightly and she looked nervous.

"Who decides who fills in when one of your servants is sick?" Will wondered as he kept his eyes on the screen. If small-talk could help Karen get through this, he wasn't opposed to participating.

"I don't know." Karen shrugged. "It seems like someone always just shows up where I need them - even if it's the wrong person." She offered a nervous laugh. "Maybe I should talk to ones I don't fire about sending up competent replacements next time... or just have Rosario fill in if it's a clothes thing."

Will nodded and continued watching the screen as the two figures gestured towards various articles of clothing. Karen looked so small next to Richard, who must have been at least six foot two. He had a pretty impressive build as well. Will frowned as he watched Karen on the screen. She had been so oblivious to this guy's intentions, while the video set off alarms in Will's mind immediately. Right from the start he had tried to dress her in what was basically lingerie. Even a straight man wouldn't honestly believe a woman would wear something like that in public.

After a few more moments, the video showed Karen send the guy away. He seemed to be walking toward the dresser, where Karen had an assortment of bottles of alcohol and some glasses stashed. He stopped by the door for a moment, and seemed to lock it before moving on.

Will could see in the guy's body-language that he was tense. As Karen continued talking to him and shrugged out of her robe, her servant stood by the dresser, moving slowly as he poured her drink. He seemed much more interested in watching her than completing the task she had seemed to ask him to do.

Richard finally brought her the drink, they spoke for another moment, and Karen sent him back to the dresser while she finished undressing from her short nightgown and began getting dressed in her work clothes. Will felt very uncomfortable as he watched the screen. Richard had been staring at Karen the whole time, like a predator stalking its prey. She had been facing away from him, looking down at her clothing options on the bed, but he hadn't taken his eyes off her.

As he and Karen continued watching the footage, Karen felt the need to explain a few things. Richard on the screen walked over to help her zip up her skirt, and had then leaned in close to her until she turned around and then pulled his face down toward her own. "He wanted to smell my perfume." Karen frowned. "I didn't mind at first... He was being weird, but I don't really mind weird a lot of the time, you know?" She sounded worried, like maybe the fact that she hadn't immediately kicked him out of the room somehow made this her own fault.

Will nodded. "Smelling perfume doesn't cause bruises Karen. This wasn't your fault." He assured her and continued watching, frowning as he saw Richard pull Karen close, followed by Karen shoving him away, and actually having to make several attempts to do so before he finally backed off. Will could tell this guy had a problem taking no for an answer. He wished someone else had been there with Karen yesterday morning. It was so clear to him as he watched the video that something bad was coming. Karen was, unfortunately, strangely innocent in certain situations, and couldn't always tell when someone was trying to use her for their own benefit.

On the screen, Richard pushed Karen somewhat forcefully down into a sitting position on her bed and made his way back to the dresser to pour another round of drinks. Will could see a hint of uncertainty on Karen's face on the screen, and felt Karen in real life reach over and grip his hand. He glanced over toward her as she stared at the screen. She was grimacing and didn't even acknowledge Will as she gripped his hand. He wondered if she even realized she'd grabbed it.

He looked back at the screen, as Richard sat down on the bed next to Karen and put his arm around her. She shrugged out of his grip, said something, handed him her glass, and stood up. Before she could walk away, however, he had grabbed her and yanked her quite forcefully backward. She appeared to struggle with him for a moment, until he leaned his face toward hers. She slapped him, and then he slapped her back, much harder. Will winced as he observed the violence of the scene.

The video then showed Richard standing up and pushing Karen back onto the bed, climbing on top of her and holding her down by her wrists. Will could see that Karen was pleading with him, and saw in her facial features that she was frightened and in pain.

He wanted to look away, but also wanted to know exactly what evidence they had against this guy. As far as he could tell, they'd have no trouble using this as proof if they needed to. No one could claim Karen had consented to this. She was clearly wincing and even crying on the security footage as Richard held her down and put his hands all over her.

The assault continued on the screen, showing Karen's attacker moving his hand under her shirt and pulling at her skirt, and Karen continuing to plead with him and attempting to escape his grip. He even pressed his hand over her face for a moment, seemingly to silence her. It was unclear why, but eventually Richard slowed down and stopped trying to undress her. They both held still for a few moments before Richard finally let go of her and stood up, offering his hand down and pulling her to her feet.

On the footage, Karen stood still, seemingly in shock, as Richard leaned down and kissed her, said something, and then left the room. Karen then straightened her clothing, pulled on a sweater, wrapped her arms around herself, and stood in the room, simply staring at the door.

Will looked away from the screen and over toward his friend. She was looking down at the floor, but still held Will's hand in a tight grip. "None of that was your fault, Karen." Will assured her. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah." She exhaled, but still wouldn't look at him.

"I don't think we'll have any trouble using this as evidence if he tries to say he didn't do anything." Will told her. He squeezed her hand gently, since she still hadn't let go. "I'm sorry this happened, Karen." He added.

Karen nodded and looked up at him. She sort of half-smiled. "Thanks, Will. Ready to go fire this guy?" She asked.

"Very." Will answered.

As he followed Karen down toward the mansion's garage, Will wondered if he was handling this the right way. They had agreed back at his apartment that the thing they needed to do first was fire the guy. All the legal stuff could be worked out later. First and foremost, they needed to get him the hell out of her house. Will just hoped he wouldn't do anything crazy. As far as he knew, the guy could pull out a gun and kill them both as soon as Karen told him he was fired.

They reached the door to the garage, where Karen paused. She inhaled and exhaled a deep breath before turning toward Will. "I don't think he'll try anything with us both there... Hopefully he'll realize he made a mistake and won't challenge me on it."

Will nodded. There was a good reason he was here right now, and a good reason Grace wasn't. Karen had decided she wanted him there as backup, and even though Grace wanted to be there for moral support as well, the three of them decided it would be best if Will and Karen handled it without her. Bringing Grace would make Karen look like a scared child bringing friends to back her up. Bringing Will, her attorney, made her look serious and legally threatening. For Will's own reasons, he wanted to be there just in case, for Karen's protection, but Will wasn't just her friend - he represented the threat of legal action. Hopefully Richard would be scared to try anything with Will there.

"You can do this, Karen." Will assured her. "He's your employee. He's beneath you." He ordinarily wouldn't have encouraged that type of thinking, since Karen often seemed to feel superior to everyone and it certainly wasn't something he necessarily liked about her, but in this case, she was superior, and he genuinely felt upset on her behalf that she seemed to feel so threatened by this guy. Karen never let anyone push her around, so the fact that she had been nearly willing to allow this guy to get away with attacking her was troubling. Will wanted her to feel strong and powerful again.

Karen nodded and led the way into the garage. She stood up straight and tall, perched on high heels, which made her look slightly more intimidating than she had yesterday when Will found her barely able to stand and looking quite small without the shoes to add to her height.

"Hey English." She called out to the lone man in the garage. He had been bent over the open hood of a car, but looked up and smiled when he heard her voice. Will almost wanted to roll his eyes at Karen failing to use the man's real name - even though he knew for a fact that she knew it. She'd told Will what it was, after all. She was purposefully failing to use Richard's name to show him he was worthless to her.

"Miss Walker." Richard nodded toward her as he wiped his hands on an oily rag. He looked even taller and more muscular in person than he had on video. The mechanic glanced toward Will for a moment, which nearly made his smile fall, but he didn't seem thrown off for long, and didn't seem distracted by Will for long either. He focused back on Karen, offering her a wide grin as he started to take a few steps forward. "I missed you this morning." He said in a very arrogant-sounding voice as he continued walking toward her.

Karen raised her hand up like a crossing guard but refused to take a step back as he approached, even though Will could tell she kind of wanted to. "Hold up, English. I'm not here for that. You pig." Karen scowled at him as she put her other hand defiantly on her hip. "Keep your grubby paws to yourself and listen to me for once. And don't you dare take another step either, Sasquatch."

Richard frowned and glared back. His mouth twitched slightly as though he was contemplating saying something. He looked pissed.

"Listen up, English, because I'm only gonna say this once." Karen started. "You're a disgusting, filthy, cowardly nobody with giant nasty ape-hands and old-man breath. You thought being a big hulking brute gave you power, but it didn't. You're still nothing, and you're always going to be nothing. You'll only ever be someone else's employee, and not even a good one. Nobody wants to hire an incompetent pervert."

Will swallowed a lump in his throat. Karen was really laying into this guy, and the three of them were the only ones in the room. He wanted to advise her to maybe be a little nicer to avoid the risk of him snapping and killing them both, but in a way, this is what he had wanted - for her to reclaim her power. He couldn't interrupt her now that she was finally gaining back confidence. She deserved to be allowed to tell this guy off for what he did to her.

"I didn't seem like nothing yesterday, Miss Walker. You didn't seem to think so either. You loved every second of attention I gave you." Richard glared at her, glanced at Will for a second, and then back at Karen. "Is this your bodyguard?" He scoffed.

"No, this is my lawyer." Karen told him.

"Oh, really?" Richard was looking more and more angry by the second. He glared at Will. "And what's this all about? You gonna take me to court or something? You better think twice about that, Karen." He threatened as he looked back at her.

"English, you're fired." Karen continued. "And I'm filing a restraining order against you and pressing charges." She added. "You're never going to work for anyone in this town ever again. I'll personally make sure of that."

Richard scowled. His hands were balled into fists by now and he looked to be fuming. "Before you threaten to take legal action against me, you better make sure you have a case, because from where I stand, you're a little slut who freaked out once I gave you the attention you asked for. You loved what I was doing. You knew right away that I knew nothing about clothing, but you didn't ask me to leave. You let me stay, flirted with me, didn't seem to mind when I got closer and closer... I doubt your husband would want to hear how you were acting around me, though I'm sure he won't be surprised. Even he's going to take my side on this."

"Woah. Hang on just a minute." Will interrupted with a frown. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Karen's mechanic. "There's no excuse for what you did, and there's no erasing it. We're pressing charges, and that's final. You're going to face the punishment for your crime. No insults or lies will change that."

"You have nothing on me." Richard glared at Will and took another step forward.

"We have security footage." Will told him. "It's very clear what happened. You probably ought to just go now before you make this worse."

"Footage?" Richard laughed a somewhat maniac laugh as he took another small step toward them. "Footage of what? Of you leading me on? Of you enjoying every second of my attention?" He stared at Karen. "Footage of you pulling me toward you so I could smell you? You pulled me right up against you, Karen. While I smelled your perfume, I could feel your breasts pressing against me, and you let that happen You wanted it to happen. You got footage of that? Do you have any footage of you and me with our hands all over each other, and you enjoying every single god damned second of it? How about footage of you inviting me to come stand right next to you and drink with you while you were half-dressed? I can't help that you regret what we did, but you wanted it... And we barely even did anything anyway."

Karen stood her ground, even when Richard was getting dangerously close to her. "You invited yourself to drink, you sleaze." Karen scoffed. "And you know damn-well that I didn't want you to do what you were doing." She frowned and her shoulders slumped as she looked down at the ground. She looked very vulnerable for a second before quickly straightening herself back up, holding her head high, and readopting her harsh tone and words. "You need to leave, English." She demanded. "You'll probably be getting a home-visit from the police soon, so make sure you're at the trailer park when they show up."

"Come on, Karen." Will spoke up, reaching his hand out and taking a step toward her. He could see that Richard was getting more and more angry with each additional insult Karen hurled his way, and could see that Karen was in no hurry to tone down her aggression. Even though he was happy that Karen had reclaimed her power here, he was reasonably worried that this wasn't going to end well if he allowed the two of them to continue talking.

"No, Will. I don't have to go. He does." Karen took a step away from Will, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at her mechanic.

The mechanic stared back, but didn't move or speak.

"Let's just let the police take it from here." Will advised. If Richard wouldn't leave, there wasn't really anything else to do now other than call the police. Staying here trying to talk to him while he was so obviously angry wasn't a good idea. In fact, they should have just called the police from the start. Confronting him was clearly potentially dangerous.

"Go head, Lurch." Karen mocked and made a waving gesture with her hands as she took a few steps toward him. "Shoo." She added as he grabbed his arm and shoved him toward the door.

Will winced and could see the exact moment when Richard decided he was going to lash out. Though he had been clearly angry for several minutes now, it wasn't until Karen physically attempted to force him to leave that he snapped.

As Karen attempted to push him along, Richard spun around and grabbed her hand. Before Will could come to her aid, Richard twisted her arm behind her and shoved her roughly, face-first against the wall. "If you're gonna pretend I got too rough with you, I might as well do it, huh?" Richard growled.

Karen cried out a pained whimper as Will rushed forward, grabbing at Richard's arms and attempting to pull him off of her. The mechanic reached his free hand back and shoved at Will without even looking away from Karen. He was strong too, so holding Karen down and fighting off Will at the same time didn't even seem that difficult for him.

"Get off of her!" Will demanded as he grabbed at the man again. Will still couldn't manage to pull Richard's arms back. He couldn't believe how strong this guy was. Richard basically ignored him besides an occasional instance of him reaching a thick arm back and shoving at Will as the smaller man attempted to throw him off of his friend.

"Mind your own business, lawyer." Richard threatened as he shoved Will back particularly harshly, but still focused all of his attention on Karen. "You think I hurt you yesterday do you? You think that was painful?" He spoke to Karen in a low voice as he pulled her arm back further and pushed her harder against the wall so that she cried out a small, pained sob. "You have no idea, sweetheart..."

Will heard Karen whimper again as the mechanic spun her around to face him and effortlessly wrestled her arms down, pinning them against the wall and leaning heavily against her. Will could barely even see her anymore, as Richard's body completely shielded her from his view. Will grabbed at Richard's arms and even punched him in the back, but nothing worked.

For a half-second, Will wondered if he should even keep trying to wrestle him off of her or if he should just call the police. Richard was so strong. Karen might be better off if Will just got the police here as soon as possible rather than trying to deal with the situation on his own. No sooner than that thought entered his mind, however, it went right out again as soon as he heard Karen's small, frightened voice. "Stop! Don't touch me!" She begged of her attacker as she struggled with him and as he leaned in very close. "Will, help me!" She pleaded, sounding entirely desperate, fearful, and in pain. His heart sunk, because he'd been trying to help her, with no luck. Richard was so strong... But he knew he had to keep trying. It was two against one, even if the one was huge and stronger than he and Karen combined. He couldn't let her suffer through this for even a second longer than necessary. He had to help her now - not wait for the police.

"I didn't want things to be like this, Karen." Richard panted as he crushed her against the wall and planted rough, unwanted kisses down the length of her throat and over her collarbone. "You're a spoiled, entitled tease. You begged for attention and you got it."

Will grabbed one of the mechanic's arms with both of his hands and pried it backwards with all of his might. It was just the window of opportunity Karen needed to get one of her hands free. Before Will or Richard could even process what was going on, Karen had somehow gotten a hold of some pepper-spray and was spraying it directly into Richard's eyes.

Richard shrieked in pain and rage. He let go of Karen and brought his hands to his face. Will exhaled a quick breath before shoving the mechanic to the side and grabbing Karen's upper arm. He pulled her away from him, just in case the pepper-spray wasn't enough to keep him down. Karen managed to get one good kick to the side of his ribs in before Will dragged her away from him.

"That's the last time your disgusting gorilla mitts are gonna get anywhere near me!" Karen yelled at him in a shaking, breathless voice, as she shrugged out of Will's grip and darted back over toward her attacker. She kicked out at his ribs again, pointed her pepper-spray down with a shaking hand and sprayed even more of it toward him, even though by now he was covering his face and the spray likely did no more damage than what was already done.

"Karen, that's enough." Will insisted as he put his arm around her waist and his other hand on her arm, pulling her back as she struggled to continue going after Richard. Though Karen was still breathing hard and didn't take her eyes off the man groaning on the floor, it didn't take much for Will to convince her to move on. "You got him, Karen. It's over." He promised.

Karen exhaled a shaking breath, but finally let the spent pepper-spray fall from her hand and allowed Will to lead her along. He could actually feel her body trembling under his hands.

"That... was a lot of adrenaline there, Karen." Will exhaled as he stared down at her. She'd certainly come a long way from meekly contemplating dropping the whole ordeal and allowing Richard to get away with what he did to her the previous morning. She was still shaking and looked with wide eyes at Richard instead of paying attention to where she was going. Fortunately, Will was guiding her along.

"And a lot of pepper-spray." Karen added with a nervous laugh.

"Where did you get that?" He wondered of the pepper-spray. "It seemed to come out of nowhere." Will breathed as he pulled her rather quickly toward the room's exit. They needed to get the police here right away. That was too close a call.

"I almost always have it with me." Karen told him in a shaking, breathless voice. "I think I may invest in a stun gun after this though." She added with a nervous laugh and a frown.

"Come on." Will said as he dragged her through the door and pulled his cellphone out of his jacket. "You okay, Karen?" He asked.

Karen nodded, but still stared with wide eyes past Will and at her attacker. She still seemed nervous - and of course Will didn't blame her. Richard's strength had been terrifying. "Are you alright, Will?" She asked in a small voice.

"Yeah." He answered with a nod.

As Will dialed the police, he pulled the door closed and maneuvered Karen so that she stood behind him - so if Richard came after them, he'd have to go through Will first. He peered in through the door's window as he talked to the cops on the phone. Richard seemed to have pretty well given up. He laid on the floor, rubbing his eyes, coughing, and periodically angrily slamming his fist down against the floor.

"Stay on the phone with me until they get there, alright?" The dispatcher asked Will after he'd given her all of the necessary information. He nodded, but didn't verbally answer, as his attention was on Richard. He was much more focused on making sure the guy didn't get back up than in listening to the dispatcher. "Sir?" The woman on the other end of the phone spoke up. "Are you still there, sir?"

"Yeah." Will answered. He glanced down as Karen squeezed herself between him and the door so that she could keep track of Richard as well. The two of them watched him closely until the police arrived.

Once they made it to the house, the police took statements from both Will and Karen. They took Richard away and informed Karen that they would be contacting her in the near future. After they finally left, Karen invited Will to stay for a drink, which he gladly accepted.

"I hope none of the staff ask too many questions about this whole situation." Karen sighed as she leaned back on the sofa she and Will were sitting on. "I never wanted to make a big show out of this... My employees didn't need to know any of this even happened... But I guess now at least they'll all know not to mess with me."

Will frowned at her. He supposed that was one way to look at it. He doubted Karen had any other employees who would go so far as to attack her, but if anyone did have those sorts of thoughts in the back of their mind, at least this could serve as an example that Karen wasn't going to stand for anything like that.

"Mess with Karen Walker and you get fired, pepper-sprayed in the face, kicked in the ribs, and carted off to jail." Karen noted. She glanced up toward Will and offered a half-smile. "And of course, you'll have to answer to the one and only Will Truman." She added.

Will forced a small smile back, but he still felt that he'd made a lot of mistakes during this ordeal. Of course Karen had missed or disregarded quite a few signs that this man was trouble, but Will practically expected that sort of lack of self-preservation from her. He expected more from himself.

He knew this guy was violent - he'd watched the video of him attacking his friend... and he'd agreed to come here and confront him anyway. It was a bad idea. He knew better. He'd already seen that the guy was strong and imposing. It was clear he didn't seem to fear consequences to his violence. Will had wanted Karen to have the satisfaction of getting to personally tell this guy off. He'd wanted for her to be able to show him that she was in charge, and that Will was too. He'd cared more about putting on a good show than in making sure his friend didn't get hurt any further. His pride, and his encouraging Karen to focus on hers - could have cost them both a lot - maybe even their lives.

"I mean it, Will." Karen continued. "I know I don't show my appreciation toward you very often..."

Will shook his head. "It's okay, Karen." He really didn't want her thanking him right now. Not when he felt like such an irresponsible fool. She'd asked him for help, and instead of him offering her safer alternatives to going about this, he allowed her to offer reckless ones, and even gladly went along with her dangerous plans.

"I'm sorry if English hurt you in there." Karen went on. "I guess I should have warned you how strong he is. I'm really glad you came with me. I'm glad I told you and Grace about this. If I had fired him by myself, who knows what he would have done?"

Will grimaced as he glanced toward her. She was right about that much. If she'd attempted this on her own, she probably wouldn't have gotten away when she did. Richard would have hurt her much worse. He may have even killed her. He seemed insanely desperate. He knew he was going to be facing charges and seemed to be perfectly willing to break any and every law now that he knew he was screwed anyway. It was lucky for both Will and Karen that Richard didn't seem to have much of a plan when he attacked her this time. If he'd thought it through, he could have taken out Will first and would have then had Karen all to himself. He could have easily over-powered her... But he seemed too angry with her to even think about what he was doing.

"Did he hurt you, Will?" Karen wondered.

Will looked over at her. She was frowning. "No." Will finally answered and shook his head. "No. He didn't hurt me." He looked at her as he thought about everything that had happened. Richard had been pretty rough with her tonight. She didn't seem to mind much now, but Will did. He and Karen didn't exactly have the most friendly relationship most of the time, but he did care about her, and it made him feel ill knowing that someone as big and strong as Richard could use his power to needlessly hurt someone small and vulnerable like Karen.

She was really quite small. She only seemed imposing because her personality and confidence were so enormous and because she wore shoes so tall Will couldn't understand how she even walked in them. She was not physically strong, and was often in a further vulnerable state due to being somehow intoxicated most of the time. Even if this wasn't her fault, she still needed to be more careful. A lot of people would be willing to take advantage of someone like Karen - for a multitude of different reasons. She needed to protect herself.

"Karen, do you trust all of your employees with your life?" Will wondered.

"With my life?" Karen scoffed. "No.. Yes... Wait... What do you mean?" She frowned. "Did you hear one of them say something? Are they plotting something, Will? I don't have to pay them anything more than minimum wage, and the illegals don't even need that. I'm doing them a favor employing them at all, Will. I'm perfectly justified paying them what I pay them." She looked genuinely paranoid. "What did you hear? Who said it?"

Will frowned. "No..." He exhaled and fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Nobody's plotting anything... I just figure you'd want to surround yourself with people you trust. It's not that they have your life in their hands constantly, but if you're going to spend time alone with people, it figures you'd want them to be people you can count on."

Karen nodded slowly.

"What I'm saying is, your servants who are alone with you - do you trust them? Do you know them well?" Will wondered. "You can't trust everybody, Karen, no matter how much you want to. No matter how much we'd all like to hope that no one would do anything like what Richard did, clearly that's not the case."

"Most of my employees aren't creeps, Will." Karen frowned. "English was new. I didn't even ever talk to him before until yesterday. Don't worry about it..."

Will nodded. "I don't mean to tell you what to do or make you worry... I just want you to be careful, and be safe."

"Okay." Karen nodded. "I am... Or, I will be. I'll be careful. No more strange men allowed to watch me get dressed."

Will sighed. "I'm not blaming you." He added.

"Oh, I know." Karen smiled. "I didn't know what was going on... Now I do. I do have the capacity to learn, Will." She added with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry." He shook his head. "I didn't mean to imply-"

"That's okay." She smiled and squeezed his hand in hers. "I can be kinda oblivious sometimes, Will. I know this may come as a shock to you, but I don't always necessarily notice the small things."

Will wasn't sure if she was trying to be funny anymore. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe from him, Karen. I shouldn't have let you confront him here. It was a bad idea."

"You did keep me safe, Will." Karen frowned.

Will shrugged. "Only after I put you in danger in the first place. We should have just called the police from the start. I was stupid to let you talk to him like that when I knew it would probably make him upset with you. I knew what he was capable of, but I didn't say anything when you wanted to go in there and fire him. I was an idiot to condone that."

"Will, that's my fault as much as it is yours." Karen laughed. "He was attacking me, and you made him stop. It doesn't matter how we got to that moment. What matters is that we were there, and you got him off of me." She looked at him with a more serious expression before sighing and shrugging. "It's whatever, you know? You win some, you lose some... And I always win them all in the end."

Will looked at her and frowned.

"English took advantage of me. You and I made a risky choice when we decided how to deal with it. For a moment, it wasn't working out in our favor... But now it has. His eyes are burning, his ribs are sore... He's in jail... And you and I are sitting here, on the comfort of my sofa, drinking some very expensive gin. We won, Will. He lost." Karen shrugged.

"Well, I'm glad you're able to see the positive aspects of this." He couldn't help but to laugh. Karen's emotions were like a roller coaster. He frowned when he realized that could also mean that the gravity of the situation could easily hit her just as hard. "If you do ever start thinking about the negative aspects though, Karen," He stared...

"I'll let you know." Karen offered a small smile.

"Good." Will smiled too and put his arm around her shoulders as she leaned against him. "Any time you need to talk, Karen, I'm here for you. For all our disagreements, for all the times-"

"I know, I know." Karen interrupted. "Don't get all Will and Grace on me, Will." She scoffed. "You can be friends with someone without droning on and on about it forever. When this finally hits me and sinks in, I'll let you know. We'll have a big, huge, sappy, panic-filled, tearful discussion. All warm and fuzzy."

Will smiled and pulled her closer as he leaned his head over and let his cheek rest on the top of her head. Karen was right. He didn't need to spell it out for her. She knew she could talk to him when she needed to, and he knew she would.

xxxxxx

!THE END!

xxxxxx


End file.
